Digital Evidence Submitted in High-Profile BOI Corruption Trial

COLOMBO (News1st); The Colombo High Court scheduled the next hearing for 10 October in the ongoing corruption case against former Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena and former Director General of the Board of Investment (BOI) Jayanta Edirisinghe.

The case was called before High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne, where the plaintiff submitted several key documents in digital format to the defense counsel in open court.

The plaintiff’s attorney explained that due to the large volume of documents, it was impractical to provide printed copies and therefore opted to share them electronically.

The plaintiff also sought permission from the court to amend several sections of the indictment.

Defense attorneys representing the accused stated they had no objection to the proposed amendments.

Taking this into account, the judge granted permission for the indictment to be revised and informed the parties that the amended charges would be read during the pre-trial conference.

The case, filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, includes five indictments against the two former officials.

The charges relate to an incident on 19 November 2014, during the second presidential term of Mahinda Rajapaksa, where it is alleged that funds from the BOI were used to publish additional newspaper advertisements in 11 publications, causing a financial loss of Rs 1,748,877.76 to the government.

The prosecution is expected to present 15 witnesses and 21 documents as evidence in the case.