Indictments served on Keheliya and two others over GI pipes case

The Colombo High Court today (Nov. 22) handed down indictments to Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for allegedly causing an unlawful loss to the government in 2014 by purchasing 600 GI pipes for political purposes, when he was the Minister of Mass Media.

Meanwhile, two other accused, former Chairman of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) Vimal Rubasinghe and former Director General of SLRC Chandrapala Liyanage, were also served indictments today.

Later, Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe issued an overseas travel ban to the Immigration and Emigration Controller, preventing the three defendants including Minister Keheliya Rambukwella from travelling abroad until the conclusion of the case proceedings.

Further, the judge ordered each of the defendants to be released on a cash bail of Rs.20,000 and two surety bails of Rs. 500,000 each and to hand over their passports to the court.

However, the court is ready to consider any request of the minister if he needs to travel overseas for government-related duty, the judge mentioned.

Then the case was ordered to be called for the pre-trial conference on February 01.