42 Facts About Nagananda Kodituwakku

Nagananda Kodituwakku is an attorney-at-law, public interest litigation activist and a 2019 Presidential Candidate.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was born in Batugedara, Ratnapura as the tenth child of a family of eleven children.

Nagananda Kodituwakku's father was a farmer as well as a public officer and his mother was a housewife.

Aged 24 Nagananda Kodituwakku started his career in the Sri Lanka Customs.

Nagananda Kodituwakku went on to complete his attorneys-at-law finals at the Sri Lanka Law College Colombo in 1997.

Nagananda Kodituwakku practiced as a solicitor in the United Kingdom until his return to Sri Lanka in 2009.

On 20 September 2019, Nagananda Kodituwakku renounced his British citizenship, as per the constitutional requirement, to allow him to contest in the 2019 Presidential Elections.

Nagananda Kodituwakku began his career in the Sri Lanka Customs Administration on 17 April 1978 as an Assistant Superintendent of Customs.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was interdicted twice, for bribery allegations and for assisting a fellow customs officer whilst on interdiction he was exonerated of all charges and appointed as the Head of the Revenue Task Force in Sri Lanka Customs until his departure from the administration and Sri Lanka in 2001 under life-threatening circumstances.

On 13 February 1986, Nagananda Kodituwakku was remanded with the charge of accepting a bribe, an allegation later found to be false.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was finally exonerated and reinstated within the Special Investigations and Intelligence Unit of the Customs Administration on 28 May 1993, seven years after the bribery allegations and arrest.

Yet Nagananda Kodituwakku pursued the case and went on to arrest the importer in question.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was produced before court with a criminal charge on the allegation that some stolen government property was found in his possession.

Nagananda Kodituwakku challenged this dismissal in the Court of Appeal, only for the court to uphold the findings of the second inquiry and dismiss his case.

Nagananda Kodituwakku then challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, where the court reviewed the dismissal and overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal in April 1998.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was reinstated with the position of Head of the Revenue Task Force.

The Ranatunga family refused to surrender the imported car and pressured the Deputy Director General of Customs to order Nagananda Kodituwakku to stop the investigation.

Nagananda Kodituwakku charged all parties involved in the illegal transaction; the director of the hotel, the private company and the daughter-in-law of Reggie Ranatunga.

Therefore, in the light of the then president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, contesting presidency for the third time, Nagananda Kodituwakku filed this Writ Application at the Registry of the Court of Appeal in December 2014.

On 28 April 2019, Nagananda Kodituwakku stated that the negligence is in violation of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and has filed a Fundamental Rights petition directing the Attorney General to institute criminal action against the country's senior political, civil and security officials, including Maithripala Sirisena, Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, for their alleged negligence over the Easter Sunday bombings.

Nagananda Kodituwakku filed a petition in the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka seeking an order to compel the Director General of Customs to conduct a formal inquiry into Prestige Automobiles for a Rs 16 billion government tax revenue fraud through the importation of 1,675 units of high-value BMW motor cars during the period between March 2011 to October 2014.

Nagananda Kodituwakku informed the court that Minister Rishad Bathiudeen had been continuously clearing the forest reserve and pleaded for an urgent hearing.

Nagananda Kodituwakku stated there was irrefutable evidence that the free fatty acids levels of the contents would be injurious to public health.

Nagananda Kodituwakku has filed a serious contempt charge against the importer Sena Mills Ltd for deceiving the Court with falsified information.

On 18 March 2019, the Supreme Court issued a restraining order against Nagananda Kodituwakku, which suspended the lawyer for a term of 3 years in Sri Lanka.

In October 2014, Nagananda Kodituwakku submitted letters to the bar association and the Commonwealth Secretariat criticizing the appointment of Malalgoda to the role of President of the Court of Appeal by the then Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Therefore, Nagananda Kodituwakku argued its ethically wrong for a public officer who worked to defend the state in the courts to then be appointed a senior role within the judiciary without going through the Sri Lankan court system.

On 20 May 2015, Nagananda Kodituwakku submitted a written application to request a bench without Malalgoda for one of his cases, to which Malalgoda himself refused and stated that as the President of the Court of Appeal he will hear his case.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was not content and stated that he'd lost trust and confidence in Malalgoda and therefore requests a different bench to hear the case.

Nagananda Kodituwakku informed the Chief Justice and referred to the situation as an abuse of office by Malalgoda whilst again requesting the case to be heard by a new bench by the means of an affidavit dated 25 May 2015 - a request that was upheld by the Chief Justice.

In February 2016, Nagananda Kodituwakku went on to charge Malalgoda for judicial corruption before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption for alleged favors to the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Nagananda Kodituwakku was formally issued a charge sheet on 11 August 2017 by the Registrar of the Supreme Court following the complaint made by Malalgoda.

The judges used this apology as evidence and found Nagananda Kodituwakku to have breached rules 60 and 61 of the Supreme Court Rules following his allegations which have been seen to erode public trust and confidence reposed in the judicial system and the apology tendered by Nagananda Kodituwakku amounts to an unqualified admission of the misconduct.

Since the Supreme Court ruling Nagananda Kodituwakku has filed a petition against the ruling and continued representing cases of public interest by utilizing general legal provisions, which allows citizens to represent themselves in court.

Nagananda Kodituwakku has asked Satterthwaite to intervene in the case which has resulted in him being barred from practicing law.

Nagananda Kodituwakku planned to contest the 2019 presidential election to adopt a new constitution.

Nagananda Kodituwakku had signed an agreement with the Okkoma Wesiyo Okkoma Rajawaru Sanvidanaya to allow him to contest the election on the condition that he renounce his British citizenship.

Nagananda Kodituwakku strived to get another political party, but claimed that the dormant political parties were asking for fiscal returns ranging from Rs.

Since the election Nagananda Kodituwakku has handed the Election Commission a full audited report for the election fund.

Nagananda Kodituwakku has initiated legal action against Dr Kapila Theminimulle for the criminal breach of trust.

Therefore, Nagananda Kodituwakku contested as an Independent Party from the Colombo district under the Shield symbol.

The Independent Party were not successful in attaining a seat from Colombo, Nagananda Kodituwakku has stated that the election cannot be deemed free and fair due to the unparalleled media coverage offered to other prominent parties in the media.