Former Sri Lanka President's Son Yoshitha Seeks Dismissal of Conspiracy Charge

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Court of Appeal today (3) granted permission to hear a revision petition filed by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in connection with an ongoing money laundering case.

The petition seeks to overturn an order issued by the Colombo High Court, which ruled that a charge of “conspiracy” filed against Yoshitha Rajapaksa under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act could proceed. The matter was taken up before a bench comprising Court of Appeal Judges Amal Ranaraja and Sumudu Premachandra.

Presenting arguments on behalf of the petitioner, Attormey-at-Law Hafeel Farisz informed the court that the Attorney General had filed charges of money laundering, including conspiracy, against his client as well as a co-accused, Daisy Forrest. However, he pointed out that Daisy Forrest had since been released from the case following a request made by the Attorney General.

The counsel argued that the conspiracy charge was based on the allegation that Yoshitha Rajapaksa had acted in agreement with Daisy Forrest. Therefore, he contended that once Forrest had been discharged from the case, it would not be legally possible to continue maintaining the conspiracy charge against Yoshitha Rajapaksa alone.

He further noted that this argument had already been raised as a preliminary objection before the High Court during earlier proceedings. However, the High Court judge had rejected that objection, allowing the case to proceed.

Raising a key legal question before the Court of Appeal, the defence maintained that if one of the alleged conspirators had been released, the foundation of the conspiracy charge itself becomes questionable.

Responding on behalf of the Attorney General, Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara submitted that the discharge of Daisy Forrest had been based on medical grounds. He explained that during the High Court proceedings, it was stated by President’s Counsel appearing for Forrest that a ruling had been delivered by the Nugegoda District Court in 2017, confirming that she was not mentally fit to face trial.

Following this, she had been subjected to a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, which also concluded that she was unfit to stand trial. Based on these medical findings, the court had decided to release her from the case, he told the bench.

During the hearing, Justice Amal Ranaraja also observed that the release of Daisy Forrest had been carried out on what he described as a technical basis, and that the High Court judge had clearly outlined the reasons for that decision in the original order.

Deputy Solicitor General Bandara further argued that the discharge of the second accused on medical grounds does not create any legal barrier to continuing proceedings against the first accused.

After considering the submissions presented by both parties, the Court of Appeal bench decided to proceed with a hearing of the revision petition.

The court directed that any objections to the petition be filed on or before June 8, while counter-objections must be submitted by June 11.

The matter has been scheduled to be taken up for hearing on June 16.