Rajapaksa endorses jail sentence for ex-army chief

COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Thursday endorsed the decision of a court martial sentencing ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka to 30 months in jail after finding him guilty of violating tender procedures for army supplies, a military spokesman said.

The court martial recommended the sentence Sep 17, but Rajapaksa, who is the commander in chief of the armed forces, was attending the UN General Assembly in New York, delaying the confirmation of the sentence.

“The endorsement of the sentence would mean that the jail sentence can commence with immediate effect,” the spokesman said.

Fonseka, who spearheaded the military campaign against Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, later entered politics after a fall-out with Rajapaksa.

The ex-army chief has been in military custody since February. He also faces charges in the civilian courts including conspiracy against the government and disclosing military secrets.

An earlier court martial convicted him of involvement in politics while serving as commander and dishonourably discharged him last month. He was stripped of his medals and the rank of general.

The second court martial tried him on charges of him approving tenders in favour of company owned by his son-in-law, Danuna Tilakaratna. Fonseka had awarded three tenders to the company to supply items to the army.

Fonseka’s lawyers argued that Tilakaratna’s company was entitled to tender to supply the army, but the argument was not accepted by the court martial.

Fonseka, who ran against Rajapaksa at the presidential elections in January and later went on to contest the parliamentary elections in April, claimed that the courts martial were aimed at keeping him out of politics.

The ex-army chief was involved in the final operations to defeat the Tamil rebels in May 2009.