Sugeeshwara Bandara, a former private secretary to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has been further remanded until August 25 after being produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Ada Derana described him as a political activist. Hiru News reported that he was brought to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court by prison officers in a Prisons Department bus earlier in the morning.

Wednesday’s appearance was the court date fixed at his previous hearing, when he was remanded until August 12 and his bail application was rejected. Daily Mirror gave his full name as Sugeeshwara Lenin Bandara.

Fourth bail application rejected

The further remand followed the rejection of a fourth application for bail, NewsFirst reported. The case was taken up before Colombo Additional Magistrate Nuwan Kaushalya.

President’s Counsel Sanjay Rajaratnam, appearing for Bandara, applied for bail on medical and family grounds. He told the court his client was a heart patient with damage to the arteries of his heart and was also suffering from blood poisoning, and that a prolonged period in remand custody had left him unable to receive proper treatment for those conditions.

Rajaratnam said Bandara’s eleven-year-old daughter was in severe psychological distress as a result of his detention and was being treated at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in Colombo. His twelve-year-old son was also under psychological stress, counsel said, and the mental condition of Bandara’s mother had deteriorated.

Officers of the Central Crime Investigation Bureau opposed the application. They submitted that the circumstances put forward could not be regarded as exceptional ones warranting bail, that the investigation under the Public Property Act was continuing and that new facts were still emerging. Releasing the suspect could hinder those inquiries, they told the court, and asked that he remain in custody.

The Magistrate rejected the application after hearing both sides and ordered that Bandara be remanded until August 25.

The allegations

Bandara is accused of drawing two salaries under the President’s expenditure head — serving as a secretary to Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 while also working as a Project Director at the Presidential Secretariat during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure.

Investigating officers have told court that Rs. 1.93 million was allegedly misused during his time as a secretary to the President and a further Rs. 4.26 million while he served as a Project Director General — around Rs. 6.19 million in total. The alleged offences fall under Section 5(1) of the Public Property Act and provisions of the Penal Code.

The Central Crime Investigation Bureau is also examining allegations that state vehicles were misused and that staff were deployed for political activities while he held the two posts.

He was arrested by the CCIB in June over the alleged double salary and has been remanded at successive hearings since, including on July 22 and July 30.

The allegations have not been proven and the case remains before the court.

Sources