Court rejects Bribery Commission’s request to revoke bail granted to MP Chamara Sampath

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has rejected the request made by the Bribery Commission to revoke the bail granted to MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake and remand him in custody over an ongoing bribery case.

Dassanayake, who is currently in remand custody, was produced in court today (16) as proceedings resumed over allegations that he caused a loss of more than Rs. 1.76 billion to the government during his tenure as Chief Minister of the Uva Provincial Council.

The investigating officer representing the Bribery Commission who appeared before the court, presented facts that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe made a statement backing Chamara Sampath only following a request by MP’s wife, without proper knowledge on the matter and therefore requested the court to revoke Dassanayake’s bail and remand him on the grounds of attempting to interfere with the investigation.

Delivering the court’s decision, Colombo Chief Magistrate Thanuja Lakmali stated that the commission’s request will be rejected as the facts presented by the Bribery Commission do not reveal sufficient evidence to revoke the suspect’s bail.