22 May 2017 04:05 pm
Mr. Perera had paid back a loan obtained from Ms. Jayakody with 403 currency notes which the private bank where she had gone to deposit the cash found them to be a bundle of forged notes.
On pleading guilty to the charges, High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga orderded Mr. Perera to pay Rs.1 million as compensation with one year’s imprisonment suspended for five years.
He was also fined Rs.500,000 on the charges of possessing fake currency notes and carrying out a transaction with such currency notes.
In default Mr. Perera was sentenced to another four years imprisonment.
The CID arrested the suspect on a statement made by Ms. Jayakody that she had been give 403 fake 5,000 rupee notes by him which was detected to be so at the HSBC Cinnamon Gardens Branch.
During police investigations it was found that the garment factory managing director had given the cash to Ms. Jayakody as repayment of a loan she had given his company. State Counsel Hansa Abeyratne appeared for the prosecution while Counsel Rasika Weeratunge instructed by Mohan Balendra appeared for Ms. Jayakody and Counsel Nissanka Nanayakkara appeared for Mr. Perera.(Farook Thajudeen)