18 November 2022 03:12 pm
An Attorney-at-law pleads court to postpone the trial of former Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s wife Sashi Weerawansa's case for tendering a forged birth certificate to Immigration Department to obtain a diplomatic passport.
Attorney Buddhika Chandrasekera appearing on behalf of Sashi Weerawansa during the trial made this pleading to Colombo Chief Magistrate Nandana Amarasinghe and told the Magistrate that the Counsel who defended the accused had withdrawn from the case and to postpone the trial for another date.
Consequently the Magistrate fixed the trial for February 24, 2023 and warned prosecution witness No 1 to appear before Court on that date.
The Magistrate further issued summons on prosecution witness No. 10 to appear before court on February 24, 2023.
The case had been filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against Shashi Weerawansa for tendering a forged Birth certificate to the Department of Immigration to obtain a diplomatic passport by violating the Immigration and Emigration Act.
Weerawansa had obtained a diplomatic passport making use of the one-day processing service by using a forged birth certificate. According to a passport that she already possessed, she was born in 1967. However, the diplomatic passport stated she was born in 1971.
Meanwhile her children’s birth certificates had stated that she was born in 1977.
Accordingly the prosecution accused her for willfully submitting forged documents to obtain the diplomatic passport.
Senior Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris PC appeared for the Attorney General during the case. (T. Farook Thajudeen)