Businessman in LECO case granted bail

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

A businessman, who was in remand custody for allegedly misappropriating Lanka Electricity Company (Private) Limited (LECO) funds to the tune of Rs. 191 million, was released on bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate yesterday.

When the case pertaining to the matter came up before Magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne, President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsakularatne appearing on behalf of the suspect Nandana Wickramasinghe moved Court that his client be released on bail since he had voluntarily assisted CID investigations.

Arsakularatne further informed Court that in complying with a Court order his client had also tendered two important documents which are said to have given his client by former LECO chairman regarding the LECO transactions.

Meanwhile, the CID prosecution officer also accepted the fact that two documents pertaining to the incident were given by the suspect and informed Court that the concerned documents are scheduled to be forwarded to the Government Examiner for Questioned Documents.

Taking into consideration the fact the suspect had assisted the CID investigations, the Magistrate ordered that the suspect be released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 and three sureties of Rs. 2 million each. The suspect was further directed not to interfere with witnesses and a foreign travel restriction was also imposed on him.    

The CID had alleged that the suspect Nandana Wickramasinghe had allegedly transacted business with LECO in purchasing houses and properties on behalf of them. The CID officer told Court that the suspect had been involved in the whole transaction from the beginning to end and thereby misappropriated funds belonging to the company.

The CID revealed that they had proof that the suspect was involved in misappropriating money belonging to LECO and that he had also misled the CID by giving false statements at the beginning of the investigation.

In this case, Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy M.M.C. Ferdinando had lodged a written complaint with the CID regarding an alleged misappropriation valued at Rs. 260 million on 24 November, 2010. In the complaint he had alleged that several properties purchased by LECO had incurred losses to the tune of Rs. 260 million. The CID told court that they had already recorded statements from several witnesses in this regard.

Court also heard that several employees of LECO had also complained to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption about the alleged misappropriation of funds. According to the complaint, the former chairman of the LECO and its administrative officials were alleged to have defrauded monies belonging to LECO.