The bribery case against former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, accused of causing a loss to the government by using nearly Rs 240,000 of State Printing Corporation (SPC) funds to pay his personal mobile phone bill, is scheduled for hearing on 25 September.

Colombo High Court Judge Sujeewa Nissanka made the order today (13).

The Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption originally filed the case against Rambukwella and former SPC Chairman Jayampathi Bandara Heenkenda. The two are alleged to have caused an unlawful loss of Rs 230,984 to the government by using state funds to pay the Minister’s phone bills during his tenure as Minister of Mass Media in 2012.

The Bribery Commission alleged that Rambukwella had influenced Heenkenda to pay his phone bills from 15 March 2012 to 14 April 2012, causing financial damage to the state in the process.

Heenkenda stands accused of aiding and abetting the unlawful payments. Rambukwella had previously raised preliminary objections to the case, but these were dismissed in 2019.