Court of Appeal quashes warrant issued by Matale High Court on Upul Tharanga
The Court of Appeal suspended the arrest warrant issued by the Matale High Court against present Sri Lanka Cricket Chief Selector Upul Tharanga, who failed to appear in courts as he was out of the country participating in a cricket competition.
On October 16, the Court of Appeal bench comprising of Justice M.T. Mohammed Laffar and Justice P. Kumararatnam, issued an interim order preventing the Inspector General of Police, Immigration Controller and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Investigative Officers from arresting Tharanga at the airport and suspended the warrant issued on October 8 by the High Court of Matale.
On October 30, Tharanga appeared before the Court of Appeal in person on the notice returnable date. On behalf of the state, it was submitted that Tharanga, on his previous date of evidence before the High Court of Matale, had consented to the date of October 8 despite knowing that he may be possibly unavailable on the said date, and that he had been careless and reckless, not appearing before the High Court of Matale on the given date. The state, however, commended Tharanga’s overall conduct in volunteering to complain on his own volition regarding the attempted match fixing in the Legends Cricket Trophy, which was held in Kandy earlier this year. It was further informed to court that if an undertaking can be given to appear on the next trial date and all dates required then an order can be made to recall the warrant.
On behalf of petitioner Tharanga, Counsel Nishan Sydney Premathiratne submitted that the petitioner did not act carelessly and, in fact, had taken all steps to inform the SIU Officer of his unavailability on October 8 from around October 1, and he was not informed of any issue prior to his departure from the country. It was submitted that screenshots of the call records had also been placed before the Court of Appeal. It was further submitted that the petitioner had no reason to intentionally avoid a hearing on October 8, having already given evidence on two days before the High Court. It was further submitted to court that only on October 7, he had been informed by the SIU Officer that the court may find fault with him and to retain a lawyer, despite having already informed the SIU in writing of his absence.
It was submitted further on behalf of the petitioner that it was the prosecution who had used the documents submitted by Tharanga to the SIU and moved the court for a warrant and an overreaching order to be arrested at the airport. It was also submitted that Tharanga had voluntarily come before the Court of Appeal in deference to court as per his undertaking given in the petition and had no reason to avoid completing his evidence in Matale.
The state submitted that the relief by way of a writ, directly granted on a judge, who is the first respondent, can have deterring effects.
However, at this juncture, Justice Laffar commented that if an order is wrong, appropriate relief will be granted by the Court of Appeal against any party, and the High Court should have been cautious in issuing a warrant of this nature has serious repercussions on a person’s family and children, and causes serious reputational damage. The court queried the reason for Tharanga’s overseas visit and was apprised by counsel for the petitioner that he had clearly pleaded that he had gone overseas on a professional cricket commitment to participate in a franchise cricket tournament.
The court commented that the petitioner had cooperated continuously and further observed that to, therefore, seek to arrest him at the airport is unreasonable on the prosecution’s own witness. The court observed that Tharanga should now have his own lawyer in the proceedings and endeavour to finish his evidence.
It was recorded in court by way of an undertaking that Tharanga will be in attendance for his evidence in the High Court of Matale on January 15, 2025. The court, being satisfied on the material and the circumstances, made the final order to invalidate the warrant by recalling the warrant issued on Tharanga on October 8, and terminated proceedings.
Counsel Nishan Sydney Premathiratne AAL, appeared with attorneys Shenali Dias and Vikum Jayasinghe on the instructions of Gamindu Karunasena for the petitioner, Tharanga. DSG Manohara Jayasinghe, AAL appeared for the state.