Money recovered from the President's House during the "Aragalaya": The Bribery Commission will not pursue the case any further.

The Bribery Commission has informed Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court that it would not take further legal action against the sum of Rs. 17.85 million recovered from the President's House on July 9, 2022.

The Bribery Commission had earlier informed the Court that it had commenced an investigation into the incident pursuant to a complaint lodged by the Puravesi Balaya Organisation.

However, the Bribery Commission informed the court on Wednesday (18) that further legal proceedings regarding this incident will not be taken owing to insufficient evidence to proceed with the matter.

On a previous occasion, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, through his lawyer, claimed his rights for the amount of Rs. 17.85 million recovered from the President's House.

However, defence counsel raised objections to releasing said amount to the former president and said the prosecution has to ascertain whether there are offences committed under the Money Laundering Act and the Bribery Act.

The CID had told the court that they recorded a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on February 6 regarding ongoing investigations into the sum of Rs. 17.8 million recovered by protesters inside the President's House.

According to the former president’s statement, he stated that money found inside the president’s office belonged to him, but he was unable to take care of it due to the prevailing security situation on that occasion. He has told the police that the sum of money that belonged to him was to be distributed among the people whose houses were destroyed by the protesters.