Sri Lankan ex-army chief’s son-in-law to be arrested

COLOMBO - A Sri Lankan court Monday issued a warrant for the arrest of the son-in-law of Sri Lanka’s former army commander General Sarath Fonseka, who is already in detention on charges of conspiring against the government.

The order was issued by magistrate Lanka Jayaratna after the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed the courts that there were attempts by Fonseka’s son-in-law, Danunna Thilakaratne, to leave the country illegally or that he had already left on a false passport.

He could be arrested overseas if he has already fled the country.

The CID said he was wanted in connection with an ongoing case in which his company allegedly provided military hardware to the army when General Fonseka was serving as the commander.

In a related development the CID carried out a search on a bank deposit box held by Thilakaratne’s mother and claimed they found 70 million rupees ($614,000). She may be called to explain the source of the money, though holding the money is not illegal.

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has already accused the US and Norway of funding Fonseka’s presidential election campaign, a claim strongly denied by the two countries.

Fonseka contested the presidential elections on January 26, but was defeated.

Sri Lanka’s Buddhist clergy was reportedly divided Monday over the arrest and detention of Fonseka.

The split appeared to surface after some of the most prominent Buddhist monks issued a statement calling for Fonseka’s release, while others reportedly defended the Feb 8 arrest.

However, state media claimed that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had the strong backing of the Buddhist monks.

State television said one of the most prominent monks who earlier had urged the release of Fonseka later called President Rajapaksa to pledge his support.

The arrest of Fonseka after he lost an electoral challenge to Rajapaksa led to several opposition protests in various parts of the country.

Fonseka was demoted from his command two weeks after leading the military victory that ended the civil war in May 2009.

The president appointed him to a ceremonial post, but Fonseka decided instead to contest the January 26 election as an opposition candidate. Rajapaksa won re-election to a second term with 58 percent of the vote, to the retired general’s 40 percent.

The government said Fonseka would be tried by a military court, but no formal charges have been brought.

The government earlier claimed that he conspired to assassinate the president and to overthrow the government.

Fonseka’s wife has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the arrest.

At the time of his arrest, he was planning to contest the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 8.