Supreme Court reinstates bond scam charges against Ravi Karunanayake

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ruled that the case filed before the Colombo High Court against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, in connection with the 2015–2016 bond scam, should proceed to trial.

This decision comes after the Supreme Court overturned a writ order issued by the Court of Appeal, which had previously invalidated the indictment filed at the High Court.

The Supreme Court issued this ruling after hearing a special appeal filed by the Attorney General, requesting that the writ order nullifying the High Court indictment be set aside.

The ruling was delivered by a bench comprising Supreme Court Justices S. Thurairaja, Janak de Silva, and Mahinda Samayawardhena, following the hearing of the special appeal.

The decision was written by Justice Mahinda Samayawardhena, with the concurrence of Justices S. Thurairaja and Janak de Silva.

Investigations into the alleged financial fraud during bond auctions conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 2015 and 2016 were initiated based on a complaint lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by then-Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

Following the investigations, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant for the arrest of then-Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, based on a complaint filed before the court. Claiming the warrant was unjust, Karunanayake filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal seeking to invalidate it.