The Supreme Court yesterday (23 September) ruled that former Controller General of Immigration and Emigration Harsha Ilukpitiya’s decision to plead guilty to contempt of court was a calculated and strategic move rather than a genuine expression of remorse, sentencing him to two years of rigorous imprisonment.

The judgment was delivered by Justice Yasantha Kodagoda with the concurrence of Justices Janak de Silva and Arjuna Obeysekera.

In delivering the verdict, Justice Kodagoda stated that Ilukpitiya’s actions amounted to a serious affront to the authority of the court. The case stemmed from a previous Supreme Court interim order instructing Ilukpitiya to reinstate the earlier manual visa issuance system after halting a Cabinet decision to hand over e-visa issuance to two private companies. Ilukpitiya was accused of failing to implement this order.

The contempt application was filed by then Members of Parliament M. A. Sumanthiran, Rauff Hakeem, and Patali Champika Ranawaka under the Judicature (Contempt of Court) Act, No. 8 of 2024.

In September last year, a three-judge Supreme Court bench ordered that Ilukpitiya be remanded. During court proceedings, the Commissioner in charge of technical operations at the Immigration Department testified that he had not received instructions from Ilukpitiya to implement the interim order.

On 1 July, during the hearing, Ilukpitiya withdrew his previous statement denying guilt and formally pleaded guilty to the charges. The court then reserved its judgment until today.

Announcing the verdict, Justice Kodagoda said Ilukpitiya’s actions constituted a grave contempt of court but noted that his decision to plead guilty after understanding the evidence against him had been taken into consideration.

Accordingly, the court imposed a sentence of three years of rigorous imprisonment but reduced it to two years after deducting the time Ilukpitiya had already spent in remand custody. The court further ruled that the sentence would not be suspended.