Director General, Commission to Investigate Allegations Of Bribery And Corruption v. S. B. Dissanayake – sllr 2005 volume 2 page 258

Brief
In the case between the Director General, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (Party A), and S. B. Dissanayake (Party B), the court examined whether the prosecution discharged its burden to show that the accused’s known income did not correspond to his known expenditure, thus warranting a presumption of illicit property acquisition under section 23A of the Bribery Act. It was held that absent substantive proof of “unknown income,” the statutory presumption could not arise, and the High Court’s acquittal remained justified. Established legal principles regarding evidentiary burdens and the scope of statutory presumptions were reaffirmed, grounded in the relevant statutory framework and prior rulings. The decision underscores that a rebuttable presumption un