By In an unexpected turn of events Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Saman Ratnayake has expressed his willingness before Maligakanda Magistrate Mrs. Lochani Abeywickrama Weerasinghe to give a secret statement before the Court regarding this drug procurement incident.
The Suspect is a sibling of a senior politician and has been very much involved in the fake drug procurement. There is a possibility of the suspect turning in to a state witness.
The Magistrate asked the suspect if he agrees to make this statement independently and without external motivation and given him time to appear in court .
The Magistrate ordered the suspect to appear before the Court tomorrow (March 4th )
The Magistrate said that the suspect should be detained separately from the other suspects in this incident and ordered the Prison Superintendent to keep him in the Mahara prison while the others are in Walikada .
Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Ms Lakmini Girihagama requested the Court to name this suspect as the 10th suspect and the request was allowed.
The DSG told Court that the suspect did not have any original files related to the Cabinet Paper issued on September 26, 2020, regarding the importation of this controversial medicine and he only had photocopies of the relevant file.
The DSG told Court that although the eighth suspect in this case, former Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella, had given instructions to call the emergency procurement in question and import drugs, this suspect, as a public official, was not bound to carry them out.
The DSG told Court that due to the fact that the suspect had committed an offence under the Public Property Act, he was arrested and produced in Court.
