Court temporarily lifts Lalith Weeratunga’s foreign travel ban

The Court of Appeal yesterday ordered the travel ban imposed on former Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga be lifted until 13 March.

The Court of Appeal bench comprising justices Deepali Wijesundara and Ruwan Fernando made the order following a request made by Lalith Weeratunga.

Attorney-at-Law Kanchana Ratwatte, appearing for Lalith Weeratunga, told the Court that his client had received an invitation to travel to India with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and requested the travel ban imposed by the court be withdrawn for the period.

The panel of judges accepted the request and ordered that the travel ban imposed on Weeratunga be relaxed until 13 March.

The Colombo High Court in September 2017 sentenced Lalith Weeratunga and former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) Anusha Palpita to three years of rigorous imprisonment each after they were found guilty of misappropriating Rs. 650 million of TRC funds and using it to distribute ‘Sil Redi’ for the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2015 Presidential Election campaign.

They have been granted bail pending an appeal against the verdict and the Court has impounded their passports imposing an overseas travel ban.