{
  "id": 6671163,
  "title": "Judge cautions DSG against pressuring prosecution witnesses in immunoglobulin fraud trial",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/10/judge-cautions-dsg-against-pressuring-prosecution-witnesses-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-10T23:45:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Island Sri Lanka",
    "slug": "the-island-sri-lanka",
    "url": "http://island.lk/judge-cautions-dsg-against-pressuring-prosecution-witnesses-in-immunoglobulin-fraud-trial/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "According to the Colombo High Court Permanent Trial-at-Bar judge, Deputy Solicitor General Lakmini Girihagama should not pressure or prevent prosecution witnesses from answering questions during the trial. The judge cautioned against such conduct, emphasizing that the court is observing the behavior of the deputy solicitor general. The case involves charges against Sudath Janaka Fernando, owner of Isolez Biotech Pharma, who is accused of supplying substandard and fraudulently manufactured medicines to the Ministry of Health and defrauding more than Rs. 1.4 billion in public funds. During cross-examination, the defence questioned a pharmacist from Karapitiya Hospital about notifications related to the withholding of certain pharmaceutical products. The prosecution objected to some of the questions, but the judge allowed the defence to examine the investigation process. An Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Office testified about procedures for Cabinet memoranda during the trial.",
  "summary": "President of the Colombo High Court Permanent Trial-at-Bar, Priyantha Liyanage, while hearing a case involving the alleged fraudulent supply of substandard Human Immunoglobulin to the Ministry of Health and the alleged defrauding of more than Rs. 1.4 billion in public funds, on Wednesday, cautioned Deputy Solicitor General Lakmini Girihagama against preventing prosecution witnesses from answering…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}