Colombo: Sri Lanka's Supreme Court was on Friday informed the former police chief of the state intelligence service will face contempt charges for his failure to pay a compensation of SRs 75 million to the victims of Easter Sunday terror attacks in 2019. Nilantha Jayawardena, former Senior DIG and head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), has been asked to appear in court on October 7.
In January 2023, the Supreme Court ordered several former government officials, including former president Maithripala Sirisena and Nilantha Jayawardena, to compensate the victims for failing to prevent the attacks despite prior intelligence warnings. The court ordered the former government officials to pay varying amounts in compensation, after taking into consideration petitions filed by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, families of the victims, Catholic priests, and others, which were heard by a seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.