Former Deputy Commissioner General of Motor Traffic Department granted bail

By Bhagya Silva 

Colombo, July 8 (Daily Mirror) - The former Commissioner General of the Motor Traffic Department, Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe and three others were released on bail over an illegal vehicle registration and number plate fraud case involving the failure to deregister vehicles from Sri Lanka Customs. 

Colombo Chief Magistrate Thanuja Lakmali Jayatunga granted bail to the first three suspects on two sureties of Rs. 1 million each, while the fourth suspect was granted bail on a surety of Rs. 500,000.

The suspects are former Commissioner General Nishantha Anuruddha Weerasinghe, Priyantha Bandara a retired Assistant Director of Information Technology, Dhammika Niroshan a clerk and Danushka Nuwan Gunaratna, a businessman.

Investigations had revealed that the suspects had caused a loss exceeding Rs. 30.2 million by facilitating the import of 177 luxury vehicles, including Toyota and Montero models, without proper initial registration. Some of these vehicles have already been handed over to the Customs with court approval.

The Magistrate also rejected an anticipatory bail application filed by Suriya Priyangani Sirimanna, a former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Motor Traffic.