Namal, two others granted bail over money laundering case

Hambantota District Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa and two others were granted bail today by the Colombo High Court for their alleged involvement in laundering money amounting to Rs.30 million through Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited between 2013 and 2014.

The three accused, Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nithya Senani Samaranayake and Sujani Bogollagama who were employed at Gowers Corporation Pvt Ltd  were ordered to be released on a surety bail of one million rupees each.

At a previous occasion, the Colombo High Court served indictments on three accused regarding the money laundering case.

When the case came up before High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe, the matter was fixed for August 31.

The Attorney General filed indictments against Namal Rajapaksa, Indika Karunajeewa, Sujani Bogollagama, Iresha Silva, Senani Samaranayake and Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited on 11 counts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for their alleged involvement in money laundering amounting to Rs.30 million in a company (Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited) owned by Namal Rajapaksa.

It was reported that Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited of Colombo 5, is providing coordinating services to Sri Lankan Airlines.

However, the second, fourth and sixth accused Indika Karunajeewa, Iresha Silva and Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited were not present in Court but was represented by attorneys.

Counsel Sampath Mendis appearing for the second accused informed Court that he was appearing for the absconding accused.

President's Counsel Jayantha Weerasinghe with Counsel Pradeep Mahesh Alahapperuma and Counsel Sudantha Bandara appeared for Namal Rajapaksa.

President's Counsel Anil de Silva appeared for the third accused.

The FCID initiated investigations into this matter following a complaint by Voice Against Corruption Convener Wasantha Samarasinghe.

Samarasinghe alleged that MP Namal Rajapaksa bought shares of a company named Hello Corp and set up a company called Gowers Corporate Services (Pvt) Limited while being an MP from the Rs.125 million earned by illegal means.