19 December 2014 07:09 am
Colombo High Court Judge Irangani Perera this morning granted bail to former army Commander Sarath Fonseka’s son-in-law Dhanuna Thilakaratne on Rs 400,000 cash with two sureties for Rs 5 million on each of them in the HiCorp case..
The judge said the sureties should be his parents.
The accused was also restrained from going abroad. He was ordered to be present before the CID on the first Sundays of every month.
Counsel Niroshana Perera surrounding the accused in court said to the Judge that the accused had absconded court for his safety. He said the court could grant bail to the suspect in a public Property Act offence if the bail application was tendered under exceptional circumstances.
He said the suspect had absconded court due to the prevailed situation in the country at that time. He said his client’s uncle Sarath Fonseka, was in remand for more than one and a half years as a result of his being contesting President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the past Presidential Election.
Thereafter Danuna Thilakaratne was accused to have defrauded the army by forwarding forged documents in the name of the locally registered British Borneo Defense Company of Australia. He said during the case Dhanuna absconded court but was represented by lawyers in absentia..
The Counsel said Danuna’s mother and his grand mother were indicted for alleged offences and the Police had obtained warrants for the arrest of his client who was innocent.
He said the police had offered rewards for his arrest and his client considering those had evaded court for his safety. Therefore Dhanuna’s bail application should be considered as an exceptional circumstance to grant bail.(TFT)