Cash found at President’s House: Summons issued on SDIG Deshabandu quashed

The Court of Appeal has quashed the summons issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Thennakoon to appear before courts as a suspect over the Rs. 17.8 million in cash found at the President’s House when protestors stormed the building on June 09, Ada Derana reporter said.

The order has been issued by the Appeals Court judge bench consisting of Justices Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and A. Marikkar, while ruling on the writ petition filed by the Senior DIG today (June 26).

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal has also issued a writ order invalidating a letter issued by the Attorney General to name SDIG Tennakoon as a suspect in the incident of attacking the “GotaGoGama” protest site at the Galle Face Green on May 09.

SDIG Tennakoon had filed a writ petition calling for a court order to prevent the hearing of a private complaint filed against him before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, stating that the summons issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court ordering him to appear before the courts in relation to the private complaint filed was, in fact, against the law.

The private complaint in question was filed against SDIG Tennakoon pertaining to the large sum of money found by the ‘Aragalaya’ activists at the President’s House in Fort, Colombo on 09 July 2022.

More than Rs. 17.8 million was recovered, in cash, from the President’s House after the ‘Aragalaya’ activists stormed into the compounds during mass demonstrations. 

The funds were later handed over to the Fort Police, after which the Colombo Fort Magistrate called for a report on the investigation into the matter owing to certain discrepancies.

SDIG Tennakoon had also filed a petition before the Court of Appeal seeking the annulment of a letter sent by the Attorney General to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) asking to name him a suspect in the case pertaining to the attack on the ‘GotaGoGama’ protest site.

He had alleged in his petition that the Attorney General has sent a letter to the CID on April 19, directing to name him as a suspect in the case related to the attack carried out on the “GotaGoGama” protest site at Galle Face Green on May 09, 2022, and the recovery of more than Rs. 17 million in cash within the President’s House on July 09, 2022, and stated that the authority to decide whether to name a person involved in an incident as a suspect remains with the police, but not with the Attorney General.