UPDATE : Five including PTL Chairman Geoffrey Aloysius remanded until Apr 05

Five suspects including Perpetual Treasuries Ltd Chairman Geoffrey Aloysius, and former Central Bank Deputy Governor Paththinige Samarasiri have been remanded until April 05 over the bond scam case.

Accordingly, three Directors of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. Pushamithra Gunawardena, Chitra Ranjan Hulugalle, and Muthuraja Surendran who were also among those arrested have been remanded until the said date.

The suspects were arrested by Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officials at their residences following which they were produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.

Charges were filed against the suspects under eight counts for violating the Public Property Act, and the SEC Act.

The Magistrate had remanded the suspects by considering the heavy losses incurred by the government and the seriousness of the offences committed by the suspects.

Deputy Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara had told court that former Central Bank Deputy Governor Mr. Samarasiri had aided and abetted this scandal by following the instructions of Arjuna Mahendran while serving as the Chairman of the Tender Committee for the issuance of treasury bonds at the time of the scam. The other suspects too were charged with abetting the offence.

However, the attorney representing Geoffrey Aloysius had sought a court order to release his client on bail by claiming that the latter was not implicated in this case.

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