Eleven suspects in 100 kilo gold scam granted bail

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

Eleven suspects including two women who were held in remand custody on charges of having attempted and conspired to cheat 100 kilograms of gold belonging to the Central Bank were ordered to be released on bail by a Colombo Court yesterday.

When the suspects were produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate, they were ordered to be released on bail after taking into consideration the available evidence levelled against the suspects. Accordingly, each suspect was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs. 10,000 and two sureties of Rs. 100,000. Defence counsel Jayantha Dias Nanayakkara with Kingsley Hettiarachchi appearing for the suspects submitted to Court that no transaction had taken place using money or gold. Counsel further submitted to Court that Police had been unable to recover the gold and thereby no party had been aggrieved. Defence further argued that Police had failed to present substantial evidence against the suspects and moved Court that they be released on bail under any condition Court deems fit.  Magistrate Thilina Gamage asked Police to present available evidence which could be levelled against each suspect. While describing each suspect’s involvement regarding the alleged offence, the Peliyagoda Special Crimes Division alleged that all suspects had been involved in attempting to cheat 100 kilograms of gold after closely associating with each other and moved Court they be further remanded.  The suspects who were ordered to be released on bail were Chithra Masakorala, Buddhika Manimendra, Jayadewa Peiris, Chandra Kumara, Sanjeewa Nadeen, Ananda Ranasinghe, Kithsiri Jayawickrema, Kosala Rajapaksha, Palitha de Silva, Tharanga Dias and Roy Gunawardena.  In this case, The Army Intelligence Unit had informed the West-North DIG about a woman negotiating the sale of some gold after receiving a tip-off.  A Police officer and an officer of the Army Intelligence unit posing as a millionaire arranged to pay Rs. 10 million as an advance in a hotel in Colombo. During this attempted transaction, 11 suspects had been arrested. Police are on the lookout to arrest another suspect. Further magisterial inquiry into the matter was postponed for 20 May.