Senarath and two others released on bail

Magistrate observed no offence so far disclosed under Public Property Act

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chief-of-staff Gamini Senarath and two others were each released on cash bails of Rs.50,000 with two sureties of Rs.1 million each by Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne yesterday. The other two suspects are Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation’s former managing director Piyadasa Kudabalage and Samurdhi’s former commissioner Neil Bandara Hapuwinna.

A travel ban was imposed on Mr. Senarath and Mr. Kudabalage.

After considering the evidence the Magistrate observed that the suspects could not be charged under the Public Property Act.

The suspects had been charged with misusing government funds by illegally investing Rs.4 billion from the Rs.18.5 billion approved by the Cabinet in 2012 to be used for the Grand Hyatt Regency Hotel Project in Kollupitiya.

The hotel in Kollupitiya was to be constructed by Canwill Holding Limited, a company affiliated to the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.

It is revealed that Canwill Holdings Ltd. set up two subsidiaries -Sinolanka Hotel and Spa, to construct the Hyatt Hotel in Kollupitiya while two other subsidiaries -- Helanco Hotels and Spa, were set up to construct the proposed Hyatt Hotel in Hambantota. The hotel in Kollupitiya was to be constructed by Canwill Holding Limited, a company affiliated to the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation

The Magistrate observed that Canwill Holdings Ltd. and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation were not state-owned public enterprises and that the Hambantota Hotel Pproject was still at the planning stages.

Meanwhile, the three suspects had also filed three fundamental rights petitions in the Supreme Court seeking an order preventing the FCID from arresting them in connection with a magisterial inquiry, under the Public Property Act and the Money Laundering Act.