The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) today (June 06) formally handed over an indictment to former Minister of Labour and Public Relations, Mervyn Silva, before the Colombo High Court.

The charges allege that Silva violated provisions of the Bribery Act by possessing assets – including properties, vehicles, and bank accounts – worth several crores of rupees, which are suspected to be disproportionate to his declared lawful income.

The indictment was presented before Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendi. Following the submission, the court ordered that the accused be released on bail.

The Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment says that an additional 400,000 families will receive the ‘Aswesuma’ relief allowance next month.

Minister Dr. Upali Pannilage stated that the selection process is at its final stages.

He also noted that benefits for 420,000 families in the transitional category have been suspended since last April.

Currently, 1.38 million families are receiving “Aswesuma” welfare benefits.

Multiple areas of Colombo and Kalutara experienced power cuts today morning (June 06) following a tripping incident on the Biyagama – Pannipitiya main transmission line.

The CEB has confirmed that a failure at multiple substations caused widespread outages.

Power has been restored to most areas, while investigations are underway.