The Colombo High Court has fixed September 7 for the continuation of the corruption trial filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) against former Minister Kumara Jayakody.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Rashantha Godawela on Tuesday (15), where the prosecution led evidence from former Lanka Fertiliser Company Procurement Executive Officer Deepika Dias.
Dias testified that Jayakody had served as the company’s Procurement Manager in 2014 and that D.S. Construction had been selected through the proper tender procedure after submitting the lowest bid for carpeting the company’s warehouse complex.
She told court that although an advance payment of Rs. 8,859,708 had been made to the company after the agreement was signed on February 18, 2014, no carpeting work had been carried out.
Under cross-examination by President’s Counsel Nalinda Indatissa, appearing for the defence, Dias said she had sought clarifications from Jayakody before giving statements during the company’s internal inquiry because she had been unaware of certain matters.
During the hearing, Judge Godawela questioned why CIABOC had not investigated the other three members of the procurement committee that selected the contractor, despite Jayakody being only one of its four members.
Responding to the court, CIABOC Deputy Director General Asitha Anthony said the remaining committee members had merely assisted in the procurement process.
Retired Lanka Fertiliser Company Finance Manager P. Samaraweera also testified that the advance payment had been made based on Jayakody’s recommendation and claimed the payment would not have been approved without it. However, under cross-examination, he acknowledged that the final approval for the payment had been granted by the company’s Chairman.
The witness further stated that after the contractor failed to carry out the carpeting work despite receiving the advance payment, the company had taken steps to claim the performance bond.
After examining the agreement, Judge Godawela observed in open court that it did not specify a deadline for completing the carpeting work. He noted that the prosecution’s two charges appeared to depend on that time frame and directed CIABOC to produce evidence on the issue.
The judge also pointed out that the agreement contained no provision regarding the payment of an advance.
The case was postponed until September 7, with the court ordering summons to be issued on two additional witnesses.
CIABOC has charged Jayakody over allegations that, while serving as Procurement Manager of the Lanka Fertiliser Company in 2014, he caused a loss of Rs. 8,859,708 to the State by facilitating the award of the warehouse carpeting contract to a private company on favourable terms.
