Sri Lanka’s justice system delivered another episode of courtroom comedy as police rushed incomplete files to the Attorney General, ignored arrest orders, and left Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe walking free in a Rs. 3.6 million land fraud case.
When the case was taken up on August 22, Mount Lavinia Magistrate A.D. Chathurika de Silva demanded to know why officers of the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau sent the investigation file to the Attorney General before the inquiry was even complete. The case centers on allegations that Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe and Kaduwela Mayor Ranjan Jayalal fraudulently leased a building belonging to the National Workers’ Institutions Trust by preparing a forged tax deed.
The Magistrate’s questions came after the Bureau submitted statements given by Jayasinghe, Jayalal and Samarasinghe on August 14 and August 21, along with their own report to court. Instead of answering, the Bureau admitted that the incomplete file had been referred to the Attorney General back in February for advice, even though all relevant statements had now been recorded.
In his statement, Samarasinghe insisted he acted as leaseholder under a 2020 union decision, claiming the funds collected were used for union activities. However, President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne, appearing for the aggrieved party with Attorney Kisal Senanayake, accused the police of delaying the case and misleading the court. He argued that the court had already issued clear orders to arrest the suspects on two occasions but the Bureau had done nothing, instead hiding behind “Attorney General’s advice.”
Gunaratne alleged that Samarasinghe’s impersonation of a union officer to lease the property was itself a criminal act, and warned that the Bureau was taking a contradictory stance. The Magistrate adjourned the order to September 26, noting her transfer to another court meant the ruling would be made by her successor. She stressed her move was a Judicial Service Commission decision and not linked to the case.
Earlier, on July 25, the Magistrate ordered statements to be recorded from Samarasinghe, Jayasinghe and Jayalal, and several documents including certified copies of deeds, union minutes, and civil court case records were submitted to court. Gunaratne also presented 35 additional certified documents.
The B report revealed Samarasinghe had declared himself President of the National Workers’ Congress Trade Union in 2017, though the Department of Labour confirmed the previous board of officers remained in office until 2024. The property was leased in 2020 under deeds signed by Samarasinghe and Rankothgedara Cyril Anandasiri, falsely posing as President and Vice President of the union.
Despite this, the Bureau told court there was insufficient evidence to arrest the suspects. Submitting yet another report, they claimed the ongoing Kaduwela District Court case over property custody made it “impossible” to identify a criminal offence, hence the request for Attorney General’s advice.
As things stand, the suspects remain free, the files remain incomplete, and the public is left wondering whether the law in Sri Lanka has become just another tool of political convenience.
