Special HC issues arrest warrant against Mahendran
August 9, 2019 10:06 am
The Permanent High Court at Bar today (09) issued an arrest warrant against the main suspect of the Bond Scam case former Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Arjuna Mahendran, to produce him before the court.
The three-judge bench consisting of Special High Court Judges Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeratne and Champa Janaki Rajaratne ordered to issue the arrest warrant in English language.
Additional Solicitor General Priyantha Nawana, speaking on behalf of the Attorney General, had recently requested the Special High Court to issue an arrest warrant at the earliest possible to produce Mahendran before the court as summons cannot be handed over to him.
On July 24th, the Special High Court ordered the Attorney General to submit an affidavit before August 9th, if there are any grounds for the request made to issue a warrant to arrest Mahendran, who is currently absconding the court.
Accordingly, the three-judge bench has issued a warrant against the former Central Bank governor to arrest and produce him before the court.
In addition, the Additional Solicitor General had previously requested court to issue summons on the 10th defendant of the case, Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa as he is currently living in Singapore absconding the court.
Accordingly, the Special High Court called for a report on the summons issued for Punchihewa to be submitted on the 4th of December.
Former Central Bank Governor Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran, former Central Bank Deputy Governor Paththinige Samarasiri, Perpetual Treasuries Limited, PTL owner Arjun Joseph Aloysius, CEO Kasun Oshadhi Palisena, chairman Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius, directors Pushyamithra Gunawardena, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran and Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa were named as the defendants of the bond scam case.
The Attorney General’s Department stated that the charges against the defendants were presented under the Public Property Act for conspiring to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 10.058 billion through the Treasury Bond auction on February 27, 2015.
The first and second defendants of the case, Arjuna Mahendran and Paththinige Samarasiri, were charged for criminal breach of trust in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 10.058 billion and thereby causing a loss to the government in a sum of Rs 688,762,100.
