Disgraced English language tutor Chandana Veerakumara, popularly known as Sakvithi Ranasinghe and his wife, who were accused of operating an unauthorized financial institution and exploiting its deposits worth over Rs. 164 million obtained from the public, have been handed suspended sentences by the Colombo High Court, Ada Derana reporter said.

After the accused pleaded guilty, High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige sentenced the two convicts to one year of rigorous imprisonment. However, the sentence has been suspended for a period of 10 years. Additionally, the convicts were fined Rs. 25,000 each, Ada Derana reporter added.

The High Court Judge ordered the convicts be released following the payment of the fines and after obtaining their fingerprints.

Earlier, based on an agreement between counsels of petitioners and the accused, it was reported that out of the total amount of money the convicts had obtained from depositors, nearly 60% (around Rs. 98 million) had been repaid in monthly installments of Rs. 5 million starting from July 2023.

Counsels for the convicts informed court those payments have been completed according to the agreement.

Further, during the hearing, President’s Counsel Jayantha Weerasinghe, who represented the convicts informed court that the first convict had been in remand custody for nearly nine years, and the second convict had been in custody for about two years. He also mentioned that the payments made by the convicts were funded by money raised by conducting tuition classes after their release on bail.

The President’s Counsel further requested court to impose lenient sentences on the convicts, as their two children are expected to marry in the near future.

Taking into consideration the presented facts, the High Court judge subsequently pronounced the final judgment.