Judge Navarathne Marasinghe of the Colombo High Court convicted former minister A.H.M. Fowzie to two years of hard labor imprisonment with a ten-year suspension today. The punishment was meted out after Mr. Fowzie entered a guilty plea in 2010 to allegations of abusing a high-end car intended for disaster relief while serving as the Minister of Disaster Management.
Mr. Fowzie was also fined 400,000 rupees by the court. The accusations were related to his usage of an opulent car that the Netherlands had given him for use in disaster relief efforts. The car was worth close to 20 million rupees. Furthermore, the vehicle that Mr. Fowzie utilized for personal usage cost the ministry nearly one million rupees in maintenance.
86-year-old Mr. Fowzie submitted a guilty plea through his attorney during today’s hearing in the case that the Attorney General had brought out under four indictments. The judge decided to delay the punishment because of Mr. Fowzie’s age and 62 years of political service, which were considered mitigating considerations. In order to use Mr. Fowzie’s fingerprints in the sentencing process, the court also mandated that they be taken.