President’s former Chief of Staff H.I.K. Mahanama and former Chairman of the State Timber Corporation (STC), P. Dissanayake, who were arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs 20 million, have been granted bail.
The order has been given by Colombo Magistrate’s Ranga Dissanayake when the case was taken up for hearing today (25).
Accordingly, the suspects were granted bail on a monetary bail of Rs 100,000 and 3 personal bails worth Rs 2 million each. Out of the 3 personal bails produced by each suspect, one of them should be a close relative of the suspect, according to the bail conditions.
The case will be next heard on the 11th of December, as per the order of the Magistrate.
The bail was granted by the Magistrate after strongly criticizing the certificate produced by the Bribery Commission to remand the suspects, stating that it had no legitimacy.
The suspects were arrested by the Bribery Commission for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Rs 20 million from an Indian businessman in order to transfer the machinery equipment belonging to the Kantale Sugar Factory.
