Court acquits Dissanayake in bribery case

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 16:50 GMT]
Ms Rohini Perera, Colombo High Court Judge Tuesday acquitted Mr.S.B.Dissanayake, a former minister in the then UNF government and now serving two year jail sentence in a contempt of court case without calling for the defense from another case in which he had been indicted for accumulating assets by improper means, legal sources said.

The Judge said in her order that the Bribery Commission had not established a prima facie case against the accused politician that he had failed to account for his assets which he could not have collected from his official salary and known income, legal sources said.

On the last date of inquiry Mr.Ananda Wijesekara, defense counsel made an application under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Court to acquit the accused, as the prosecution had not proved this case, legal sources said.

Mr.Dissanayake lost his parliamentary seat following the order of the Supreme Court jailing him for two years for making a statement slandering the superior court decision in another case, legal sources said.