The bribery case filed against President’s former Chief of Staff Kusumdasa Mahanama and former State Timber Corporation (STC) Chairman Piyadasa Dissanayaka was yesterday taken up before the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar.
The defence counsel who appeared on behalf of the accused raised an objection to the marking as evidence of voice recordings on two mobile phones of the key witness, regarding alleged conversations in connection with the bribe.
On the previous occasion, the complainant and the key witness in the case, Indian businessman K.P. Nagaraja produced his mobile phones which included the alleged conversations in connection with the bribe to the Judicial Registrar and the defence counsel produced the experts to verify the recordings, but Nagaraja refused to allow access to the voice recordings to the defence without a court order.
Considering the facts, the Trial-at-Bar bench comprising High Court Judges Sampath Abeykoon (President), Sampath Wijeratne, and Champa Janaki Rajaratne ordered further hearing of testimony to be postponed for today.
On the previous occasion, Nagaraja testified before the court and CCTV footage in connection with the alleged acceptance of a bribe in the car park of a luxury hotel in Colombo by the persons who identified as accused in the case was screened in the court.
The accused are charged with allegedly soliciting a bribe of Rs. 540 million and accepting another Rs. 20 million from an Indian investor who wished to acquire a section of the Kantale sugar factory.
The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) Director General had filed indictments against the two accused under 24 counts for allegedly committing offences under Sections 19(b), 19(c), 25(2), and 25(3) of the Bribery Act.
The two accused were arrested by CIABOC officers in the car park of a luxury hotel in Colombo on May 3, 2018, while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs.20 million.
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