Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama today (06) ordered that the wife of former Minister Sarana Gunawardena, a court employee, and a court registrar be further remanded until October 20 over an alleged bribery case.
The order was issued following submissions presented by officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and attorneys representing the suspects.
The trio was arrested and produced in court by the Bribery Commission for soliciting, giving, and aiding in a bribe of Rs. 50,000 intended to secure a lenient sentence for Sarana Gunawardena—who is currently serving a prison sentence—in a bribery case ongoing at Colombo High Court No. 11.
The attempted bribe aimed to reduce penalties in a case where Gunawardena, during his tenure as Chairman of the Development Lotteries Board (DLB), allegedly defrauded Rs. 2 million by fraudulently transferring his wife’s Madiwela house under a third-party name and leasing it back to the DLB without any operational necessity.
In June, Sarana Gunawardena was sentenced by the Colombo High Court to 16 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs. 1.8 million after being found guilty in four corruption cases involving irregularities in hiring vehicles on a rental basis during his chairmanship at the DLB in 2006.
