When the case against former Srilankan Ambassasor in Rusia Udyanga Weeratunga was taken for inquiry yesterday,the Colombo Fort Magistrate ordered the FCID to conduct a special investigation into the missing documents and original agreement date back to 2006 and 2007 in regard to the purchase of MiG-27 aircraft transaction from the possession of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF).
Magistrate Jayaratne observed that investigations should not be delayed or hampered any longer on the basis that there is no original agreement pertaining to the transaction and ordered the FCID to investigate to ascertain whether someone was purposely involved in misplacing the original documents.
While ordering the FCID to continue its investigations into the incident based on the available copies of documents.
The FCID told Court that they are investigating whether the former Sri Lankan ambassador in Russia Udayanga Weeratunga had invested money in a company called Sri Lankan Limited Liability Company in Moscow, which were earned through the Mig-27 transaction. Police investigations are on under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.The FCID informed Court that Weeratunga had directly intervened into the questionable transaction in procuring MiG-27 ground attack craft.
The FCID said the deal amounted to US$14 million. The FCID launched this investigation following a complaint by defence columnist and political writer Iqbal Athas.
