IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA In the matter of an Application for revision under and in terms of Section 11 (1) of the High Court of the Provinces (Special Provisions) Act No. 19 of 1990 reads with Article 138 of the Constitution.

Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption, No.36, Malalasekara Mawatha, Colombo 07.

Plaintiff Court of Appeal Application Vs.

No: CPA 85/2022 1. Maldeniyage Don Upali Gunarathne Perera, High Court of Colombo No.372, Upper Karagahamuna, No: HCB/115/2021 Kadawatha.

2. Hewa Rajage Wasantha Wimalaweera, No.59, Wilabada Road, Gampaha

3. Upali Senarath Wickramasinghe, No.300 G, Godagama Road, Athurugiriya

4. Sudeera Parakrama Jinadasa, No. 65, Model Town, Ratmalana Accused And Now Maldeniyage Don Upali Gunarathne Perera, No.372, Upper Karagahamuna, Kadawatha.

1st Accused-Petitioner Sudeera Parakrama Jinadasa, No. 64, Model Town, Ratmalana

4th Accused-Petitioner Vs Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption, No.36, Malalasekara Mawatha, Colombo 07 Plaintiff-Respondent BEFORE : Menaka Wijesundera J Neil Iddawala J COUNSEL : Maithree Gunarathne, PC with Ashan Nanayakkara and Migara Gunarathne for the Petitioner.

A.Navavi, DSG with S.M Sabry, ADL for the Respondent Argued on : 0 9 .01.2023 Decided on : 04.04.2023 Iddawala – J This is a revision application against the order dated 21.02.22 delivered by the learned High Court Judge of the Provincial High Court of Western Province holden in Colombo. The accused-petitioners (hereinafter referred to as the petitioners) aggrieved by the said impugned order, has preferred this instant revision application to this Court in order to set aside the said order.

The facts of the case are as follow. The petitioners were the accused of the High Court of Colombo case bearing no. HCB/32/2017. The Director General of the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption framed 14 charges under Sections 19 (c) read with Section 25 (3) of the Bribery Act and Section 113 (a) of the Penal Code against the said accused or the petitioners of the instant application. However, when this matter was fixed for trial on or about 26.08.2019, the 1st accused-petitioner brought up the following preliminary objections: 1) The sanction given by one Commissioner to commence the investigation and file charges in court is contrary to law. 2) The case must fail in ab initio as it has failed to satisfy the law. 3) The Attorney-General cannot appear on behalf of the Respondent. The aforesaid matters were fixed for argument and the petitioners filed the written submissions consequently. However, prior to the matters being taken up for argument, the respondent withdrew the lower court case filed at the High Court of Colombo which engendered the following revision applications CA/PHC/APN/16/2020 and CA/PHC/APN/18/2020, thereby rendering the above applications redundant.

Thereafter the petitioners were indicted for the second time on 29.06.2021 under the case bearing no. HCB/115/2021, under the same 14 charges framed by the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption. Consequently, the petitioners took up the following preliminary objections on 13.12.2021.

1. The indictment has been served without a proper sanction or the direction of the Bribery Commission.

2. The indictment served is bad in law.

3. The Attorney-General has no right to appear on behalf of the Director General of the Bribery Commission.

The learned Attorney-General filed the counter objections on the 19.01.2022 and after a perusal of the submissions made by both the parties, the learned High Court Judge delivered his order dated 21.02.2022 by dismissing the aforesaid preliminary objections of the petitioners. Therefore, aggrieved by this impugned order, the petitioners have sought to invoke the revisionary jurisdiction of this Court to set aside the said order.

This Court will not take up the third objection which is that the Attorney-General cannot appear on behalf of the Director General of the B