The Sri Lankan government on Thursday made it known that fresh charges would be framed against the defeated opposition common consensus presidential candidate, retired General Sarath Fonseka, in civil courts under the Penal Code and Exchange Control Act in two weeks.
Minister of Export Development and International Trade G.L. Peiris told a news conference here that the former Army Chief would be charged on counts of fraud, condoning fraud, plotting against the government, creating unrest within the Army and keeping army deserters under his protection.
General (retired) Fonseka is in the custody of the military on a number of charges including treason.
The commander-turned-politician was picked up on the night of February 8 after a raid on his election office by a group of military personnel. The raid and the subsequent detention triggered a furore within and outside Sri Lanka.
One of the allegations faced by General Fonseka is that he had favoured the company partly owned by his son-in-law in award of contracts for defence supplies to the Army.
The CID had informed the local courts that when he was the Army Chief, the General had approved of four suspicious tenders to a firm allegedly run by his son-in-law Dhanuna Tilekeratne.
