Father who cheated disabled son storms newspaper office

A man identifying himself as the father against whom the Colombo Fort Magistrate had issued an arrest warrant on charges of having defrauded his son of Rs.150 million is alleged to have stormed the Ada newspaper office of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. today and threatened the editorial staff.

Lodging a complaint with the Slave Island police, Ada News Editor Duminda Balasuriya said the suspect who had stormed the Ada office with two others had charged that the news report was baseless and searched for the journalist who reported the court case.

The Ada news report was based on a news report published in the Daily Mirror by Lakmal Sooriyagoda on Thursday which stated that the Colombo Fort Magistrate had ordered the CID to conduct an investigation to arrest the father who allegedly defrauded his son of Rs.150 million he received from the Italian Government as compensation for injuries he suffered when an Italian police officer’s gun had misfired.

Lodging a complaint with the CID Rumesh Kusal of Horana said he had lived in Italy for 13 years where he had gone for educational purposes.
On March 29, 2006 the vehicle he was driving was halted and checked by the Italian police, during which time the police officer’s gun misfired, injuring the complainant.

Subsequently a case was filed at a Civil Court in Como City. Following the lawsuit, the Italian government had paid him a compensation of 1,200,000 Euros, 120,000 Euros to his father, 120,000 Euros to his mother, 70,000 Euros to his brother and 40,000 Euros to a cousin, the complainant said.

The Italian government had also given him 21,200 Euros to construct a house and he had been attached to a lifetime pension scheme.

The Counsel who appeared for the complainant told Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage that the money was given to his parents and relatives in order to take care of his client fulltime, as he was semi-paralysed.

The complainant alleged that his father had fraudulently taken a Court order from a District Court in Horana to obtain his guardianship indicating that his son was mentally unfit to handle the property he was entitled to. He further alleged that his father had concealed the fact that he was a married person when obtaining the guardianship in his favour.

The complainant had also told the CID that the Italian government made necessary arrangements to remit the compensation to Sri Lanka after receiving special permission from the Central Bank.

He alleged that the father who fraudulently received his guardianship had cheated him of a sum of Rs.150 million and was currently misusing the properties belonging to him.

When the case came up before Magistrate Thilina Gamage, the Counsel who appeared for the aggrieved party complained that the complainant’s father was currently enjoying a luxury life while also having an illicit love affair.

He further alleged that his client was currently living in dire conditions and moved Court that the CID be instructed to conduct a proper investigation into the incident.

Having considered the facts, the Magistrate ordered the CID to conduct an investigation and arrest the father. (SD)