STATEMENT TO BE RECORDED FROM LANKAN ACCUSED

Plot to kill Maldivian President:

Colombo Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe Bandara on Tuesday (17) postponed for November 24 the recording of a statement from a Sri Lankan witness who was said to have involved in the aborted attempt to assassinate Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen.

When the case was was called, Counsel Senaka Ullandupitiya appearing on behalf of Yasasiri Dhanushka Perera informed the Magistrate that his client had been admitted to a private hospital in Talawathugoda and moved for a new date for his statement to be recorded.

The case was being heard in response to a directive by the Court of Appeal to conduct an inquiry into the aborted assassination attempt on Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen. The Prosecutor General of Maldives Ahmed Hisham Wajeed had made the request of the Sri Lankan Government on July 4, 2016 under the mutual assistance in a criminal matter between the two countries.

The Public Prosecutor had named two Sri Lankans Yasasiri Dhanushka Perera and Lahiru Madusanka as defendants in the case.

According to the Maldivian Public Prosecutor a group of Maldivians had conspired to kill President Abdulla Yameen. The coup was allegedly masterminded by former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb who had entrusted the job to a person named Fazeel Hameed, who in turn hired a person named Abdulla Ibrahim to carry out the hit. He was thought to have entrusted the job of carrying out the killing to a Sri Lankan, Yasasiri Perera, who in turn gave the contract to Lahiru Madusanka, who was arrested in the Maldives on October 24, 2015.” The Maldivian Government had alleged that an aborted coup to oust President Yameen had taken place and demanded that an inquiry be held into the case to prosecute the culprits.