Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has arrived at the Permanent High Court at Bar for the hearing of the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum case, says Ada Derana correspondent.
The case against the former Defence Secretary and six others was filed by the Attorney General, for allegedly misappropriating state funds amounting to Rs 33.9 million during the construction of the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana.
The former Defence Secretary had filed preliminary objections stating that the Special High Court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case, however, the Special High Court rejected the objections.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa then filed a revision petition with the Court of Appeal seeking an order suspending the rejection of his appeal. The Appeals Court ruled that it does not have the jurisdiction to hear the revision petition, hence, rejected it without taking it up.
A special appeal petition was subsequently lodged with the Supreme Court challenging the Appeals Court verdict. Considering the submissions by defence attorney President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, the Supreme Court judge bench yesterday (25) granted permission to hear the relevant petition.
Fixing the petition for support on October 1st, the Supreme Court judge bench issued an order preventing the hearing of the filed before the Special High Court until the Supreme Court’s ruling is delivered.
