Nagananda to take legal action after failed Presidential bid

Attorney-at-law Nagananda Kodituwakku said he will file legal action against the secretary of a political party next week, citing “criminal breach of trust”, for failing to nominate him as a Presidential candidate.

Kodituwakku is facing a barrage of criticism after requesting financial assistance from the public for his election campaign, an exercise that saw more than Rs 13.4 million being collected in his bank account as of September according to a statement from Vinivida Foundation.

Mr Kodituwakku said, in the coming days, he would reveal the manner in which these funds had been spent.

Mr. Kodituwakku, told Times Online, he had been falsely promised by Dr. Kapila Theminimulle, the Secretary of the Okkoma Wesiyo Okkoma Rajawaru Sanvidanaya, to be made the candidate.

He noted that he had renounced his UK citizenship last month, after Dr. Theminimulle promised to nominate him as the candidate of his party, before changing minds at the eleventh hour.

"I will definitely charge this man," he said. “I will file a police complaint failing which I will privately take legal action.”

The attorney explained that he could not form his own political party since the law requires an individual to be involved in active politics for four years, and that he had entrered politics only in 2017.

"Any citizen who wants to contest the election by making a deposit should be allowed (to do so)," Kodituwakku insisted.

He pointed out that he could not come forward as an independent candidate since that would require him to be a current or former Parliamentarian.