The Attorney General vs. Jeewaka Hemal Edirisinghe – CA PHC APN/0142/2023-2024

In the case between the Attorney General and Jeewaka Hemal Edirisinghe, Anjalee Deepa Edirisinghe, Nalaka Premalal Edirisinghe, Asanka Srimal Edirisinghe, and Swarnamahal Jewellers (Pvt) Ltd, the court addressed the applicability of the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011, especially Section 71(2), to acts committed under the repealed Finance Companies Act No. 78 of 1988, along with the validity of preliminary objections related to the indictment. It was held that the registration requirements imposed by the repealed statute, as preserved by the new Act, must be considered in prosecution, and that the High Court’s omission to address this statutory link constituted reversible error. The court relied on the interplay between the old and new statutes, clarifying that the retrospective operat