Former Deputy Minister Sarana Gunawardena, who has been accused of having caused a loss of nearly Rs. 900,000 by not following the prescribed procedure in obtaining vehicles on a rental basis for the Development Lotteries Board (DLB) while he was serving as its Chairman, was served indictments before the Colombo High Court yesterday (7).

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) served indictments to Gunawardena before Colombo High Court Judge, Amal Ranaraja.

After serving indictments, the Judge ordered that the accused be released on a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 and two surety bails each valued at Rs. 500,000. The Judge also imposed a foreign travel ban on him and ordered that the passport be handed over to the Court. In addition, the relevant authorities were ordered to obtain fingerprints of the accused, and called for a report on previous offences committed by him. The accused appeared before Court yesterday as per a notice issued by the Court in relation to the case filed by the CIABOC. The case is to be taken up again on 4 May for a pre-trial conference.

The CIABOC has filed indictments at the Colombo High Court, accusing Gunawardena of having caused a loss of nearly Rs. 900,000 by not following the prescribed procedure in obtaining vehicles for the DLB on a rental basis, during the period when he served as its Chairman.