Wijeratne v. Attorney General – sllr 1998 volume 3 page 098

In WIJERATNE v. ATTORNEY GENERAL, the issue concerned whether the accused-appellant, a Public Health Inspector, solicited and accepted gratification under the Bribery Act in connection with the prevention of the demolition of an unauthorized structure. It was held that the conviction and sentence were to be quashed, as the verdict was found to be against the weight of the evidence. The decision reaffirmed that proper judicial evaluation must be applied to the entirety of the evidence, referencing appropriate standards of proof in criminal liability for bribery offences. This outcome underscores the necessity for thorough analysis of factual contexts and evidentiary discrepancies before determining criminal culpability under anti-corruption statutes.

Ismail J. — It was established that th