Colombo High Court Judge Lal Bandara Ranasinghe today ordered that three revision applications filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, seeking to revoke the bail granted to Attorney-at-Law Rakitha Rajapaksa and two other suspects, be taken up for hearing on February 9.

The applications relate to an alleged incident in which the three suspects are accused of soliciting and obtaining a bribe of Rs. 120 million from the wife of an organized criminal in exchange for facilitating relief to the latter.The CIABOC has filed the revision applications before the Colombo High Court seeking to set aside the Colombo Magistrate’s Court decision to grant bail to Rakitha Rajapaksa, Charith Abeysinghe and Warusha Hannadige, who had previously been remanded in custody.The petitioner submitted to the High Court that the impugned order was legally flawed and that the Magistrate had failed to properly apply the relevant statutory provisions relating to bail. Accordingly, the petitioner stated in the petition that the application had been filed seeking a review of the legality and propriety of the said order.

When the revision applications were taken up, Assistant Director Anusha Sambandapperuma, appearing for the CIABOC, informed court that the Commission would not pursue the interim relief sought in the applications on that day.Having considered the submissions, the Judge directed the respondents to file their objections by November 14 and the petitioners to file their objections by November 28.Accordingly, the hearing of the three revision applications has been scheduled for February 9.