SC grants special leave to appeal against bribery conviction to ex-Deputy Minister
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted special leave to appeal to former Deputy Minister Shantha Premaratne, who was sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment for soliciting and accepting a Rs. 50,000 bribe in return for promising employment. Premaratne, a former United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politician and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organiser in the […]
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has granted special leave to appeal to former Deputy Minister Shantha Premaratne, who was convicted and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment in 2017 for soliciting and accepting a Rs. 50,000 bribe. Premaratne, a former United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politician and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organiser in the Ampara District, maintains that the Rs.
50,000 was a donation for the construction of a party headquarters and not a bribe offered in exchange for employment. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction on November 05, 2024, prompting Premaratne to challenge the ruling before the Supreme Court. A three-judge bench will consider whether the charge in the indictment had been proved at the trial, with the appeal scheduled for argument on March 29, 2027.
Attorneys Hafeel Farisz, Prashan Wickramaratne, and Sanjeewa Kodithuwakku represent Premaratne, while Additional Director General Ruvini Wickramasinghe represents the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
Brief written by urgent.news from The Island Sri Lanka's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
