Former Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga was admitted to the prison hospital following his arrest by the CID upon his arrival in the country on Friday morning.
Weeratunga who was in hiding since 2018, was flouting an Interpol Red Notice and a magisterial arrest warrant after being charged for money laundering and misappropriation during the purchase of four MiG 27 aircraft for the Air Force in 2006.
During the court proceeding, CID told the court that it will take at least 10 days to record statements from Weeratunga. The CID also told the court that they were unable to record the statements within the prison premises given the heavy load of case material to be referred to the case. Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake has instructed the CID to make special arrangements with the Prison authorities to transport him to the CID for further questioning.
While Weeratunga’s counsel Anil Silva PC rejected the charges against him under the misappropriation of public property, the CID said that they will seek the Attorney General’s advice on that.
On Friday Weeratunga was questioned for over 10 hours by CID sleuths after his return to Sri Lanka. The CID told the court that Weeratunga in his statements has said that the agreements of the MiG deals were done legally.