The preliminary objections raised by former Minister Johnston Fernando and two others over a corruption case filed against them by the Bribery Commission were today rejected by the Colombo High Court.
High Court judge Manjula Tillekaratne dismissed the preliminary objections and set the case for pre-trial hearing on May 10.
The Bribery Commission filed this corruption case against former Minister Johnston Fernando, former CWE (Lak Sathosa) Chairman Eraj Fernando, and former Minister’s Private Secretary Raj Mohideen Mohammad Sakeer for allegedly causing an unlawful loss to the government by employing the employees of the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) for election work during the period 2014.
The Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption filed this corruption case against three accused under Section 70 of the Bribery Act on four charges.
The Bribery Commission claimed that the first accused, Johnston Fernando, illegally employed Sathosa employees for election work in 2014, while Minister Johnston Fernando was Minister of Cooperatives and Internal Trade.The Bribery Commission filed five separate cases against the accused regarding this incident.
