The Attorney General had verbally informed senior officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to place MP Rishad Bathiudeen under surveillance 24 hours prior to issuing written instructions to arrest him, Attorney General's Coordinating Officer, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne stated.
Had the CID followed the AG's verbal instructions to place the MP under surveillance, he would not have been able to escape the CID's net, she insisted.
Mr Bathiudeen was taken into custody from Dehiwala earlier today. He and six others who aided and abetted him to go into hiding were remanded until October 27 after being produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court this evening.
State Counsel Jayaratne added that the AG met with senior CID officers today after the arrest and during the discussions, it emerged that the CID was conducting investigations against Mr Bathiudeen in relation to at least 10 more incidents, she further said. The AG briefed the Acting IGP at length over these incidents and instructed the CID to conduct further investigations into all these incidents under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and to appoint a specialised team of officers with expertise in investigating incidents of money laundering to probe these cases.
Ms Jayaratne noted that the AG also instructed the CID to investigate and report to court, regarding all those who aided and abetted the MP to go into hiding, and to also investigate persons who held press conferences during this period to confirm that Mr Bathiudeen is in hiding and evading arrest. The CID has been instructed to submit a report to a report on these investigations within two weeks, the AG's COO added.
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