The National Development Bank (NDB) has informed the High Court that they cannot provide the court ordered computer data of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake requested.  

The NDB Bank’s legal representatives have said that the bank’s account details are encrypted in a special format and that a total estimated cost of $470 000 should be deployed to recover the encrypted data.

The lawyers representing the bank has also said that they are more than willing to help if the former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake is willing to pay the above mentioned amount to retrieve the computer data she requested.

However, Lawyer U L J Bandara the legal advisory of the former Chief Justice said that Shirani Bandaranayake is not ready to pay the required amount to obtain the banking data.

Earlier, the High Court) granted permission to the defence, the lawyers of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and computer experts, to access the Database of NDB Bank and inquire into the account details of the former Chief Justice.

It was revealed in the court that the bank account under investigation is Account No. 101110002058 (Old No. 100002001360) maintained at the National Development Bank.

Shirani Bandaranayake, the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, was impeached by Parliament and then removed from office by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2013. Bandaranayake was accused of a number of charges including financial impropriety and interfering in legal cases, all of which she denied.