Republic Vs. Batatawala

The hearing of the case started in
April 2022. The case is still at
prosecution stage. ACB has
presented eight witnesses and
eleven are remaining. The matter
was last set down for hearing in
the week of 23 to 27 January 2023.
The ACB prepared to parade six
witnesses but none of them
testified. On 23 and 24 January
2023, the court could not sit
because one of the defence
counsels was bereaved.
On 25 January 2023, the lawyer
for Mr. Batatawala raised a
number of objections to the
charges and prayed for discharges
of some counts. This was
dismissed by the Courts. Later on,
the Defence raised an issue on the
constitutionality of some of the
charges and this matter was
referred to the Honourable Chief
Justice.
The Chief Justice has since
certified this as a constitutional
matter and is awaiting hearing by
the Constitutional Court.