(COLOMBO) – The Sri Lankan Court of Appeal directed the police against arresting fugitive and self-styled Christian Prophet Jerome Fernando who is due to arrive in Colombo sometime later this week.
Fernando was forced to flee the country earlier this year for alleged inflammatory remarks that put other religious faiths in poor light during a pray meeting held in the outskirts of Colombo.
This order was issued when a petition filed by Fernando, seeking an order preventing the CID from arresting him, was taken up before the Appeals Court bench on Friday morning.
However the court ruled that Fernando should provide a statement to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) within 48 hours of his arrival to the country.
In his absence local investigators assisted by finance regulators stumbled on to an alleged international money laundering scam after billions of rupees of questionable assets were found in bank accounts directly or indirectly connected to Fernando.
Fernando has a sizeable following that includes elite personnel from leading sportsmen and women to politicians, businesspersons and so on.
Fernando’s central prayer centre known as the ‘Dome’ is located in Seeduwa some 21 kilometres west of the commercial capital of Colombo.
Fernando for his part had denied the money laundering accusations but instead says that the funds were from donations made by his followers and others both in Sri Lanka and overseas.
