News
Magistrate orders arrest of suspects in building lease fraud case
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
The magistrate gave the order and instructed Police to conduct a thorough investigation after considering facts submitted to court by the Police Fraud Investigation Unit (FIU) that a sum of Rs 3.6 million had been defrauded from an entity named the National Workers’ Institute through this illegal act.
The investigation has been launched following a complaint lodged by a resident of Kirulapone. Lawyers for the complainant alleged in court that Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) trade union convener Wasantha Samarasinghe had allegedly used a forged deed to lease out a building of the National Workers’ Institute, belonging to the trade union National Workers’ Congress, to Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe.
The FIU informed court that it commenced its investigation by examining the original deeds of the property in dispute and that it questioned the notary who had drafted the deed as well as the persons who signed as witnesses.
Ravi Mathugama and Athula Ranagala, instructed by Pramod Polpitiya, appearing for the complainant, informed court that the institute that owns the building is being administered by a trust, and that Mr Samarasinghe and Mr Jayasinghe, who do not engage in any profession but claim to be trade union leaders, had been engaged in this fraud. They noted that the complaint had been lodged in 2017 and that this was not an attempt to sling mud targeting the presidential election. This was a genuine fraud, they claimed, requesting the court to issue an order to arrest all suspects.
Police, meanwhile, informed the court that while both Mr Samarasinghe and Mr Jayasinghe had been summoned to provide statements in relation to the case, only Mr Jayasinghe had given a statement while Mr Samarasinghe had not shown up. Police, submitting a ‘B Report’ to court, also said that Lalani Peiris, who had signed the deed as a witness, had done so under the instructions of another woman named Amali Kalupahana.
Magistrate Lankapura ordered Police to conduct further investigations and report to court on November 26.
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