Bail refused to Tissa Attanayake

By T. Farook Thajudeen 

The Colombo High Court yesterday refused to grant bail to Former UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake who is in remand custody till 5 December for preparing a fraudulent document by forging the signatures of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 2015 Presidential Election. 

High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena made this pronouncement yesterday delivering her order on the revision application filed in court by Attanayake who sought a revision to the earlier remand order made by the High Court.

Judge Weerawardena observed that Attanayake had attempted to get bail by misrepresenting and distorting facts to the court. 

She said that while the Government Analyst had confirmed in his report that the signatures of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wicramasinghe’s had been scanned from other documents and inserted into the fraudulent document, Counsel Shavendra Fernando PC had given a wrong impression to the court by misrepresenting facts. She also said that even though the Defense Counsel had mentioned that the CID had not conducted proper investigations, the CID reports confirm that it had, in fact, conducted proper investigations in accordance with the law.

She also said the affidavit of the accused did not contain any reasonable reasons to grant bail to Attanayake. The High Court had remanded Attanayake on charges of preparing a fraudulent document that was displayed in the media during the last Presidential Election for the purpose of affecting the result of then Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

The Attorney General alleged that Attanayake had committed an offence under Section 3 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No. 56 of 2007 by inciting racial or religious hatred among the ethnic communities.

Section 3(1) of the ICCPR cites that no person shall propagate war or advocate national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to cause discrimination, hostility or violence.

The AG further indicted Attanayake for committing a punishable offence under Sections 454 and 459 of the penal Code by forging a document and displaying it to the public as genuine and that the accused had also committed an offience under section 80-C of the Presidential Election Act for displaying a fake document prior to election, for the purpose of affecting the results of that election in relation to the personal character or conduct of any Candidate. 

He was also accused of publicly announcing on 22 December 2014 that there was a secret deal between UNP Leader Wickremasinghe and Common Opposition candidate Sirisena in the run up to the Presidential Elections in 2015. 

Attanayake defected from the UNP extended support to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015 Presidential Election, soon after which he was appointed Health Minister, a position that was left vacant after Sirisena broke ties with the Rajapaksa government to become the common opposition candidate.