The Ajith Nivard Cabraal bond case will proceed after a Colombo court rejected objections over jurisdiction and appeal rights.
Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s bond case will proceed after a Sri Lankan court rejected the former Central Bank Governor’s preliminary objections Monday.
The ruling clears the way for Cabraal’s corruption trial over high-risk investments in Greek sovereign bonds to begin next week.
A three-judge bench of the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar unanimously dismissed arguments from Cabraal’s defence team. His lawyers had claimed that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. The trial is scheduled to begin on July 20.
Ajith Nivard Cabraal Bond Case Set for Trial
The state’s bribery commission filed the indictment under Sri Lanka’s new Anti-Corruption Act. Prosecutors allege that Cabraal caused the government a loss exceeding 1.84 billion Sri Lankan rupees, approximately $6.1 million.
The alleged loss arose from investments in risky Greek state bonds between March 2011 and November 2012, during the height of Greece’s debt crisis.
Cabraal’s defence attorney, Sampath Mendis, argued that a 2018 amendment established the special court. Therefore, he said, it could not legally decide matters involving financial transactions that occurred years earlier.
The defence also argued that transferring the trial to a special court deprived the accused of ordinary appellate rights.
However, the prosecution maintained that Parliament has constitutional authority to enact retrospective legislation. It also argued that transferring the case represented a procedural change, not a substantive change to the law.
The court accepted the prosecution’s position. It ruled that adequate legal safeguards remain because any final verdict can be appealed before a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.
