Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne on Monday postponed for today the ruling on the anticipatory bail application of Danuna Tilekeratne, son-in-aw of Presidential candidate Gen (rtd) Sarath Fonseka.

The petitioner was not present at the hearing.

Senior State Counsel Damit Totawatte submitted that the case had been filed under the Public Property Act and the Bail Act was not relevant to offences coming under the that Act.

The pettioner’s contention was that he would be taken into custody in respect of an unbailable offence.

The present whereabouts of the petitioner is unknown.

He had earlier been notified to be present at the CID office to obtain a statement.

Raising two preliminary objections, the Senior State Counsel submitted that the affidavit submitted by the petitioner was not acceptable.

In his affidavit, the petitioner has stated that he had no connection whatsoever with the Hicorp registered in Sri Lanka.

Although he had no legal link with the local corporate entity, he has had connections with its directors and employees.

Already, an employee of the company had been taken into custody.

Laksman Abeysekara, a director of the local Hicorp, which the Attorney-at-Law representing the petitioner, said was a free person.

Investigations were still underway and in future the possibility of him being taken into custody could not be discounted. The CID had filed a secret report due to the security concerns of witnesses, the Court was told.

The chairman of the Australian-registered British Borneo Defence had stated that on a request by Hicorp (Sri Lanka), power of attorney had been granted to Hicorp Sri Lanka, thus empowering it to represent that entity at local defence tenders.

His statement had been obtained in Australia.

Furthermore, Hicorp (Sri Lanka), had registered itself as a supplier to the Ministry of Defence. The proceeds of the sales had been credited to another entity under the trade name ‘Hicorp’ registered in Texas USA. Hicorp has allegedly committed an act of cheating and inter alia discrepancies at all levels are visible.

He objected to granting anticipatory bail.

Saliya Piers, Attorney-at-Law appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner was being harassed as he is the son-in-law of Presidential candidate Gen (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka, who contested against the party in power. The lawyer queried why the CID was involved in this ‘baseless endeavour’.

The Attorney-General’s Department (AG) pointed out the use of false documents by the respondent entity. However, the AG’s Department accepted that the power of attorney granted to Hicorp as genuine. He moved for anticipatory bail.

SP Neil Gajasinghe and CI Siriwardena represented the CID.