Vithana Palpita Koralalage Anusha Palpita and others Vs. The Hon. Attorney General – CA 413 – 414/2017-2017

In the case between the Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12 (Respondent), and Vithana Palpita Koralalage Anusha Palpita and Lalith Chandrakumar Weeratunga (Appellants), the court addressed whether the accused, as officials of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRC), had criminally misappropriated Rs. 600 million of TRC funds by authorizing their transfer to the Presidential Secretariat for the “Sil Redi” program. The court held that the prosecution failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt either the requisite dishonest intention (mens rea) or the actus reus of misappropriation, and that the manner in which the trial was conducted raised a real and objective apprehension of bias, thereby denying a fair trial. This holding reaffirmed the