Former Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa and five others have made an application requesting the High Court to acquit them in the Money Laundering case.

The defence is to make an application before High Court Judge Nawaratne Marasinghe in terms of Section 200 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure requesting the Court to record a verdict of acquittal on behalf of the accused in view of the fact that the evidence led by the prosecution totally failed to establish the commission of the offence charged against the accused in the indictment.

The case was fixed for defence submissions to be taken up on September 13.

The Attorney General had filed indictments against six accused for their alleged involvement in laundering money amounting to Rs. 30 million through Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited.

The Attorney General had filed indictments against Namal Rajapaksa, Indika Karunajeewa, Sujani Bogollagama, Iresha Silva, Nithya Senani Samaranayake, and Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited on 11 counts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for their alleged involvement in money laundering amounting to Rs. 30 million in a company (Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited) owned by Namal Rajapaksapaksapaksapaksa between 2013 and 2014.

The High Court had permitted the prosecution to proceed with the trial in the absence of the second and sixth accused in the case in terms of Section 241 of the Criminal Procedure Code.