Sri Lanka's anti-graft body withdraws case against former central bank governor

Colombo, Dec 10 (PTI) An anti-graft commission on Wednesday announced a conditional withdrawal of a case against former governor of Sri Lanka's central bank, Ajith Cabraal, for the 2011 investment he made in Greek bonds.
     The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said it has agreed under section 67 (2) to withdraw the charge under section 67 (3) requiring Cabraal to make a deposit of Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) 1.8 billion as compensation to the state for the loss incurred due to his decision to invest in Greek bonds.
     The amount has to be deposited at the central bank within three months from Wednesday.
     Sri Lanka’s 2023 Anti Corruption Act No 9 allows for withdrawal of indictments before judgement as a structured and conditional mechanism.
     In Cabraal’s case, his failure to deposit the prescribed sum would see the case returning under section 67(5), the CIABOC said.
     The current government has indicted many members of the former governments for corruption.
     In the first 10 months of the year, 70 former political high rankers and 118 public officials have been arrested by the CIABOC resulting in 38 convictions so far.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)