Jan 27, Colombo: The Colombo High Court today scheduled the hearing of a case, filed by the Bribery Commission against former minister and parliamentarian Johnston Fernando and two others over corruption charges for May 10, 2023.

Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige rejecting the preliminary objections raised by the defense that the case against the former minister cannot be continued and decided to hold the pre-trial conference of the case on May 10.

The Bribery Commission filed a case against the three defendants under Section 70 of the Bribery Act, charging the defendants with causing a loss of more than 5.9 million rupees to the government by removing a group of Sathosa employees from their duties and engaging in political activities while Johnston Fernando was the Trade Minister in 2010 to 2014.

The Bribery Commission has named d ex-minister and SLPP parliamentarian Johnston Fernando, ex-chairman of Sathosa Eraj Fernando and ex-director Mohammad Zakeer as defendants.

When the case was called earlier, the lawyers of the defendants raised an initial objection that the Commission cannot proceed with the case against the defendants as all the three commissioners of the Bribery Commission have not signed to file a case against the defendants.

The judge rejected the initial objection and decided to hear the case.