Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena on Wednesday granted bail to SLPP parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa in the money laundering case arising from SriLankan Airlines’ Airbus aircraft procurement — the first bail order in his favour since he was taken into custody on September 4.
The magistrate set cash bail of Rs. 500,000 and two sureties of Rs. 100 million each, the Daily Mirror reported. The sureties must produce certificates issued by their respective Grama Niladharis.
A foreign travel ban was imposed, with the court registrar directed to notify the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration. The magistrate warned that bail would be cancelled if Rajapaksa attempted to influence or intimidate any witness. The case will be taken up again on October 14.
A separate file from the case he was refused bail in
The Criminal Investigation Department filed this case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and it was listed before the Fort Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday — a different court from the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, where his bail application was refused a day earlier and his remand extended to October 13.
That distinction was put on the record. Hiru News reported that Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara answered three questions the court had directed investigators to address in writing. Asked whether the two matters could be consolidated and filed together, he said no final decision had been reached. Asked whether this case should be referred to the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, he said the two relate to separate investigations conducted by two different agencies into the same incident, making a transfer unnecessary.
On the third question, the DSG confirmed that a certificate under section 149 of the Anti-Corruption Act, issued by the Director General of the Bribery Commission, had been filed in the bribery case before the Chief Magistrate’s Court.
Bail granted, but he stays in remand
Rajapaksa will not walk free. NewsFirst reported that he remains in remand custody until October 13 in the separate bribery case before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, notwithstanding Wednesday’s order. He was also remanded to October 6 in the Bribery Commission’s Krrish case on September 29.
His own counsel said as much in court. In a fuller account of the hearing, NewsFirst quotes President’s Counsel Anil Silva telling the magistrate: “Even if he secures bail in this case, he will continue to remain in remand in relation to the other matter.” Silva argued his client posed no flight risk, that what had happened to him was “a consequence of his involvement in politics”, and that he had no need to influence the witness Nimal Perera, with whom he said Rajapaksa had “long been at odds”.
The section 149 certificate is what separates the two outcomes: because it was filed, the DSG told the court, “special circumstances are required for him to obtain bail in that case” — a threshold Rajapaksa failed to meet on September 29.
A consolidated indictment is being considered
The DSG went further than other accounts reported. Both investigations are now finished — the Bribery Commission’s under the Anti-Corruption Act and the CID’s money laundering inquiry — and the files and extracts have gone to the Attorney General, who “is currently considering the filing of a consolidated indictment covering both cases.”
Rajapaksa was arrested on September 4 over an alleged Rs. 100 million bribe connected to the Airbus matter and had bail refused on September 23 and again on September 29. His counsel has maintained that none of the emails produced in court carry his client’s name.
Note on figures: Newswire reported the sureties as Rs. 30 million each. The Daily Mirror and Hiru News both give Rs. 100 million each, and Hiru’s own article slug carries that figure; this report follows the two outlets that agree.
