The Supreme Court has ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena and two others who were ordered to pay compensation to the victims for failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, to complete their outstanding payments before August 30, 2024.

Accordingly, the former President, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara and former Chief of State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena have been ordered to pay the outstanding compensation to the victims of the Easter attacks before August 30.

Furthermore, the seven-member Supreme Court judge panel has ordered that if the relevant individuals fail to complete the payments before the said date, contempt of court charges will be filed against them before September 20, 2024.

Earlier today, the former President’s lawyers had informed the Supreme Court that Rs. 58 million of the total Rs. 100 million in compensation which Sirisena had been ordered to pay the victims, for failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, has already been paid.

Meanwhile, the former President had also requested the court through his lawyers to extend the payment period for the remaining sum by six years.

On July 11, 2023, the former President completed paying Rs. 15 million as part of the compensation he was ordered to pay to the victims and filed a motion requesting that he be allowed to pay the remaining sum in 10 instalments of Rs. 8.5 million from  30 June 2024 to 20 June 2033.

The deadline to complete the relevant compensation payments was originally set for July 12, 2023.