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Champion racing driver seeks anticipatory bail

05 Dec 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The well-known Sri Lankan racing driver Dilantha Malagamuwa today filed an anticipatory bail application in court to pre-empt the possibility of his arrest on charges of a non-bailable offence.

He cited the CID Commercial Crimes Unit (5) OIC as the respondent.

In a case before the Colombo Fort Magistrate, the CID alleged that Mr. Malagamuwa had introduced a Sri Lankan businessman Gnanadeepam Sivajothi to a Japanese Yoshiyuki Hayashi for an investment project in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Hayashi had given a loan of US$600,000 to the businessman who had expressed his willingness to pay back US$840,000 within three months but the businessman had failed to do so and this had resulted in the Japanese making a complaint to the CID.

The CID alleged that Mr. Malagamuwa who assisted in interpreting the first complaint of the Japanese national had done so improperly. It was alleged that Mr. Malagamuwa had obtained Rs.15 million from Mr. Sivajothi and thereby committed offences that come under section 398, 400 and 389 of the Penal Code.
In his petition, Mr. Malagamuwa denied all allegations levelled against him and said he had not taken money from the businessman and not interpreted the first complaint in a wrong manner.

He said the respondent had levelled several charges against him on non-bailable offences and his arrest would damage his reputation in the sports arena.

The petitioner stated that the Tourism Ministry of Sri Lanka had appointed him as an ambassador for tourism to assist and support Sri Lanka tourism’s efforts in promoting country’s offer to the world at large.

He said former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuch had highly appreciated him stating that he had worked his way up to become a qualified driver in Japan’s most prominent speed car race. Mr. Malagamuwa said he had received major international honours claiming the victory of Nippon Formula Championship in 2007 becoming the first non-Japanese Asian to compete the game. He said he had also won Malaysian GT championship on several occasions and added that the travel restrictions imposed on him would prevent him from participating at many national and international games and thereby he moved Court to grant him anticipator bail.

Having considered the bail application, Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered that notices be issued on the the CID Commercial Crimes Unit (5) OIC to be present in Court on December 7, the next date of the hearing. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

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Champion racing driver seeks anticipatory bail

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