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Bribery Commission tells bank to produce Ratwatte CDs
By Tania Fernando
The sensational case of the Ratwatte CDs has run into a legal dispute involving the Commission investigating Bribery and Corruption and the Fort Magistrate's Court.

The Commission has asked the Hatton National Bank to produce the Ratwatte Certificates of Deposit valued at more than Rs. 42 million to continue its investigations, an official said.

He said a letter had been sent to the Bank requesting it to produce the CDs on Wednesday and the CID had been informed of this. The Commission has recorded a statement from CID Official, SP Gnanaratne, who led the team which searched the Ratwatte vaults.

The official said the Commission was also calling for a copy of Mr. Ratwatte's assets declaration which he was expected to make to Parliament. He said they would be investigating as to how the former Defence Minister had accumulated CDs to this value and further investigations would be carried out depending on the outcome.

Earlier the Colombo Magistrate requested a Commission representative to appear in court on September 18, but a Commission official said the Magistrate had already no jurisdiction over the Commission. "It is only the Chief Magistrate who can request a representative of the Commission to appear in Court," he said.

The official said that what the Colombo Magistrate had stated at the time the case was handed to them by the CID, was that in the event the Commission wanted the CD's to be retained, it had to get an order from a competent court. As such there was no necessity for a representative of the Commission to appear in Court.

The Official further said that under section 5 of the Bribery Commission Act, the Commission was empowered to order the bank to produce the CDs to the Commission and did not need a court order.

CID last month searched the HNB bank vault belonging to Mr. Ratwatte, after a tip off that there were weapons and drugs concealed in them. However, the former Minister intervened and requested that they do not search the lockers.

The CID then obtained a court order from the Colombo Magistrate to search any other vaults belonging to the Ratwattes. During their search they recovered CDs valued at over Rs. 42 million.

While the lockers were sealed after initial investigations, the CID took the case to the Bribery Commission for further investigations.

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