Supreme Court of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka: A full bench of Priyantha Jayawardena, PC, Murdu N.B. Fernando, PC, and S. Thurairaja, PC, JJ., dismissed an appeal filed against an order of the High Court of Colombo, through his Power of Attorney holder, Wanigasuriyaarachige Don Sharan Mary Dolita to the Supreme Court.
The Accused-Appellant was employed as a General Cashier (Chief Cashier) at the Hilton Hotel, Colombo. Passengers who were departing through the Bandaranaike International Airport were supposed to pay an Embarkation Tax. The Hilton hotel pre-purchased the Embarkation Tax Tickets and provided them to their customers. The routine accounts verification found that, the cashier had not accounted for the said money of Rs 600,000 and when they investigated, it was found that the cashier had not reimbursed Rs 600,000 which was used to purchase the Embarkation Tax Tickets. The Hotel held an independent enquiry and found the Accused-Appellant guilty. The matter was referred to the Colombo Fraud Investigations Bureau; a case was filed against the Accused-Appellant, at the Colombo-Fort Magistrate’s Court on two counts under Section 391 of the Penal Code and two alternate counts under Section 386 of the Penal Code. The magistrate found him guilty on the first and third counts and sentenced him to one year imprisonment, aggrieved by which the Accused-Appellant had filed an appeal in the High Court and the High Court had affirmed the order of the Magistrate. Dissatisfied by which the instant appeal was made and the Supreme Court had asked to frame the grounds of appeal.
The Court while dismissing the appeal explained that the misappropriation of the Accused-Appellant has been proved beyond reasonable doubt and they do not find any in consideration of the grounds of appeal, hence there are no merits in the grounds of appeal. [Warnakulasuriya Michael Angelo Fernando v. Officer-in-Charge, SC Appeal 85 of 2014, decided on 13-11-2019]
