CID to discuss steps against Ratwatte

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID), probing the discovery of millions of rupees worth Certificates of Deposits in two vaults belonging to former Deputy Defence Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte and his wife at a private bank, will this week begin consultations with the Attorney General whether bribery and corruption charges could be framed against the former minister.

The Certificates of Deposit detected from two vaults at a private bank have been valued at Rs 43.3 million ($4.5 million) and the detectives are probing whether his assets had been declared as required by Parliament.

Detectives said they were also considering whether to charge Ratwatte with obstructing the duties of a public officer after he allegedly intervened to stop their search in the safe deposit vaults of the Bank last Wednesday.

The CID will submit a full report tomorrow to the Colombo Fort magistrate's court which had issued the search warrant and further action will be taken after consulting the Attorney General.

The CID was compelled to obtain a second warrant from the Magistrate on Thursday after Ratwatte had objected to their examining the contents of certain envelopes inside the vault.

Gen. Ratwatte, who led the war effort for seven years, has strongly denied the charges and said it is part of a malicious campaign to distract public attention at a time when the government is about to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Ratwatte has told journalists that he had not earned that money illegally and could account for the money. The detective have also sought warrants from the magistrate to search suspected Ratwatte vaults in other banks and to seal those vaults.

The ex-minister is also facing charges for his involvement in the massacre of 10 youth on the last parliamentary election day, December 5, 2001.

He was not present at the scene of the incident, but there are claims that both his sons were there and Ratwatte had provided soldiers to carry out the attack.

Ratwatte and his sons were indicted in court only last week. Earlier the three of them spent nearly five months in remand custody.