Lasantha murder: CID to review bank accounts of 63 intelligence officials

The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has been given permission by the Mt. Lavinia Magistrate’s Court to analyze the bank accounts of 63 intelligence officials in connection with the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, Ada Derana reporter said.

The order was issued when the case was taken up for hearing before Additional Magistrate Sulochana Weerasinghe this afternoon (11). The account of the intelligence official who is already in custody will also be inspected.

Accordingly, the CID is expecting to obtain statements of the bank account details of the officials from 32 financial institutes, the reporter added.

Meanwhile, the Magistrate also ordered the official to be further remanded until August 25. He will be produced for an identification parade on the same date.

Police said that the army officer was arrested over the abduction, unlawful detention and questioning of an individual, who was the driver of Wickrematunge’s vehicle at the time of the assassination.    

The CID was granted permission to detain and interrogate the suspect for 48 hours after he was produced before court earlier. 

Wickrematunge, founding editor of privately-run newspaper Sunday Leader, was shot dead while he drove to work in January 2009.  Wickrematunge was a staunch critic of the administration of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, which has insisted it had no role in the editor’s killing.  

Sri Lanka’s new government had reopened investigations into the murder after coming to power in January last year. In February, the police released sketches of two persons who are suspected to be involved in the assassination. The Army Commander had recently appointed two Court of Inquiries to investigate the misplaced documents in the cases pertaining to the murder of Wickrematunge and the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.