Colombo, March 27 The Supreme Court fined a former health minister of Sri Lanka 75 million Sri Lankan rupees on Friday for violating fundamental rights by importing medicines under an Indian credit line in 2022 through a company not registered for that purpose.
A three-judge bench of the island nation's top court issued the ruling in response to fundamental rights petitions filed by Transparency International and two other parties in what is being seen as Sri Lanka's biggest public health scandal case.
While Keheliya Rambukwella, the former health minister, was asked to pay 75 million Sri Lankan rupees (LKR), the court also asked a group of senior health officials to pay 50 million LKR each to the state for importing medicines through the company, which was not registered for health supplies under the Indian credit line, to help the island nation overcome the forex and economic crisis in 2022.
Rambukwella was arrested in early 2024 while still serving as the health minister, along with multiple officials, for authorizing the import of substandard human immunoglobulin from a company in India in a scam worth millions of Sri Lankan rupees.
He spent several months in pre-trial detention before being released on health grounds.