Karuna exonerated in state vehicles misuse case

Former Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman has been exonerated by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court from the case filed against him regarding the alleged misuse of state vehicles. 

When the case was taken up before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe today (30), the FCID informed the court that the Attorney General has decided not to take any further action regarding the defendant. 

Therefore they requested the former deputy minister be exonerated from the case. After considering the fact presented the, magistrate ordered the accused be exonerated and also ordered to hand over the vehicle in question, which had been released on a bond, to the Presidential Secretariat. 

The former top LTTE military commander who later became Deputy Minister of National Integration in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was arrested after he arrived at the FCID to give a statement regarding the complaint on 29 November, 2016. He was granted bail in December. 

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) had commenced investigation after police discovered a super luxury bullet proof vehicle valued at approximately Rs 90 million from Batticaloa, Karuna’s hometown in the Eastern Province.

Karuna Amman, who commanded the LTTE in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, defected from the organisation in 2004 to begin his own political outfit, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP). He later joined former President Rajapaksa and served as minister in his government