The innocence of the two accused-appellants could be fully vindicated on oral and documentary evidence and she could not reach any other conclusion other than that of their guiltlessness observed Justice Wickremasinghe acquitting former Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and former Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) Director General Anusha Palpita last Thursday.
Setting aside the conviction and the sentence imposed by Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga, the Bench comprising Justice Kumuduni Wickremasinghe and Justice Devika Abeyratne of the Court of Appeal acquitted the two appellant-accused of all the three charges in connection with the controversial Sil Redi (white clothes worn by Buddhists when they observe religion at temples) distribution case.
“On the whole, having carefully perused the evidence led in the case and the submissions made on behalf of the Attorney General and the accused appellants,” said Justice Wickramasinghe, “that the prosecution has failed to establish the ingredients of the offenses laid in the indictment.”
Delivering the judgment she noted that the appellants have acted in honesty and good intentions when exercising their powers and duties. The second accused-appellant was denied a fair trial, as a result of the excessive use of powers to question a witness, she said.
Justice Wickramasinghe also said that the High Court Judge during the evidence of the last prosecution witnesses the trial judge had intervened in many occasions and had made a large number of abrupt remarks.
Justice Wickramasinghe noted that submissions were also made that the High Court Judge had made a number of abrupt remarks while the second accused-appellant was giving evidence.
The judgment also stated that the appellants had also complained that they had been deprived of a fair trial when the case was transferred to another court where the trial judge was transferred to.
The judgment stated that without properly assigning the appellants cases, they had been transferred from one court to another in violation of the practices followed in the High Court. The judgment also noted a trial judge should bear in mind that “prudence in adhering to principles of fair trials would enhance the quality of justice and create confidence in litigants who seek the citadel of justice.”
“It is a travesty of justice that only two members of the TRC had to endure the traumatic experience of a selective prosecution at a prolonged trial, causing a senior public servant with long years of meritorious public service humiliation and anguish,” said Justice Wickremasinghe.
In their appeals to the Court of Appeal appellants had said that they were found guilty of misappropriating Rs. 600 million of funds belonging to the TRC. They said that they had been sentenced to a three-year rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court.
They also said that neither Rs. 600 million nor a part of it were used by them for their personal gains and the trial judge had deprived them of a fare trial.
They said that the decision to distribute Sil Redi among the devotees who observe sil was a Government policy decision, initiated long before the declaration of the 2015 Presidential Election to implement the Government’s social development policies.
President’s Counsel Faiz Musthapha PC with Shavindra Fernando PC and Faiszer Musthapha PC, Counsel Faisza Markar, Shantha Jayawardhana and Keerthi Thilakaratne appeared for Lalith Weeratunga.
Senior Counsel Kanchana Ratwatte with Counsel Janaka Ranatunga and Thushara Samanpali Amarasiri and Amani Pilapitiya appeared for Anusha Palpita. Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige with State Counsel Chathuri Wijesuriya appeared for the Attorney General.