Fowzie ordered to pay Rs. 6.6 Million and publicly apologise over vehicle misuse
A.H.M. Fowzie | Photo: AI-reconstructed from the original image; not an exact real-moment capture.
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ordered former Minister A.H.M. Fowzie to pay Rs. 6.6 million to the Consolidated Fund and publicly apologise after ruling that he violated fundamental rights by using a government vehicle for his personal benefit.
The ruling was issued yesterday (September 29) over the misuse of a vehicle provided by the Government of the Netherlands for disaster management activities in Sri Lanka.
The Supreme Court held that Fowzie had violated the fundamental right to equal treatment and the public trust doctrine through the misuse of the vehicle.
The Court ordered him to pay Rs. 1.6 million to the Consolidated Fund within one month as compensation for the loss caused by the misuse of the vehicle, and a further Rs. 5 million within two months, bringing the total payment to Rs. 6.6 million.
Fowzie was also ordered to publish a public apology within one month through half-page advertisements on the front pages of Silumina, Sunday Observer and Thinakaran newspapers.
The advertisements must be published in all three languages and include a photograph of the vehicle that was misused.
The orders were issued while delivering judgment on a fundamental rights petition filed by former Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Chandra Jayaratne.
The petition was heard by a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Janak de Silva and Arjuna Obeyesekere. Justice Janak de Silva delivered the judgment with the agreement of the other judges.
Jayaratne had filed the petition claiming that Fowzie had violated the fundamental rights of the public through the misuse of public property and funds.
Attorney-at-Law Dilum de Alwis appeared for the petitioner on the instructions of Attorney-at-Law Amila Kumarage, while Attorney-at-Law Ruwantha Cooray appeared for Fowzie.
Attorney-at-Law Gaya Rajapaksha, Legal Director of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), appeared on behalf of the Commission.
The matter relates to a vehicle donated by the Netherlands to support disaster management in Sri Lanka while Fowzie was serving as Minister of Disaster Management.
Fowzie had previously faced a case before the Colombo High Court over the same vehicle. On August 27, 2024, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, suspended for 10 years, and fined Rs. 400,000.
That case involved a vehicle worth nearly Rs. 20 million that had been donated to the Ministry of Disaster Management while he was serving as Minister in 2010.
He was also accused of causing nearly Rs. 1 million in state funds to be spent on the maintenance of the vehicle.