Former Minister Johnston Fernando has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over the possession of an illegally assembled luxury vehicle.

He had arrived at the CID this morning (23) to provide a statement regarding the unregistered BMW car, allegedly belonging to him, which was recently found suspiciously parked at a star-class hotel in Colombo.

A petition filed by Fernando, seeking an order to prevent his arrest over the incident, was taken up for consideration yesterday (22). 

During the hearing, his attorneys informed the court that Fernando was prepared to appear before the CID today to give a statement on the matter.

Meanwhile, the Colombo High Court today also issued an arrest warrant on former parliamentarian Johnston Fernando, for failing to appear before the court over a case against him for allegedly involving Sathosa employees in election work from 2010 to 2014.

Three persons including the former minister stand accused of using 153 ‘Lanka Sathosa’ employees for political purposes, while Fernando was serving as the Minister of Co-operatives Internal Trade, resulting in a losses amounting to Rs. 40 million to the government.

When the case was called before Colombo High Court judge Manjula Thilakartne this morning (Oct 23), the arrest warrant was issued as Johnston Fernando failed to appear before the court.

His attorney informed the court that his client was at the CID providing a statement regarding the unregistered luxury car allegedly belonging to him, which was found parked at a star-class hotel in Colombo.