A speech made by Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia this week on the current violence in the Middle East is unusually frank for a senior member of the Saudi royal family.
A speech made by Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia this week on the current violence in the Middle East is unusually frank for a senior member of the Saudi royal family.
Israel has suggested that the long-term aim of its military campaign in Gaza is to sever all links with the territory.
Founding chairman of Seylan Bank and former chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated Deshmanya Deshabandu Lalith Kotelawala has passed away at the age of 84, family sources confirmed.
A former warehouse worker with "grandiose" ideas to bolster his image fleeced his employer out of almost $190,000 in a bid to put on T20 cricket tournaments featuring star international players.
Sri Lankan origin Navishta Desilva, 36, dreamt of becoming a professional cricketer and played for Australia at under-15s level before he "hit a ceiling" and joined the workforce, the County Court of Victoria was told.
Having permanently relocated from his home of Sri Lanka to Australia at the age of 20, Desilva tried his hand at a number of jobs, including service station attendee, door-to-door salesman, Harvey Norman sales assistant, Deloitte auditor and part-time DJ.
He developed a passion for events and went on to work at Live Nation as a hit-and-miss promoter, before he later decided he could promote cricket events through his own business called Global Talent Entertainment, the court was told.
Prosecutors said the business hosted an international Twilight T20 cricket series at Dandenong in Melbourne's southeast, and managed several high-profile cricket players at Endeavour Hills Cricket Club.
Desilva's lawyer Sam Norton said funding didn't come through for some events, prompting his client to steal from his then-employer, Omnivision, where he worked as a warehouse assistant.
Endeavour Hills Cricket Club cancelled the second day of a Twilight T20 Carnival in 2022 after its dealings with Global Talent Entertainment went sour when Desilva was charged.
The first of the carnival's matches went ahead in November 2022 and featured West Indies' veteran batsman Chris Gayle.
"Having gotten to this position where he's overcommitted, he feels as though he will let people down and he will lose any position of importance that he may have obtained by the calling off of these tournaments," Mr Norton told the court on Friday.
Desilva placed orders on Omnivision's behalf with a legitimate supplier, CCTV Masters, and sent doctored invoices to his employer with inflated prices and his own bank details on them.
He ultimately stole more than $240,000 from Omnivision but the business netted a total loss of $189,000 after some of their CCTV Masters orders were fulfilled.
Desilva used the stolen money to pay cricket players - including Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne - more than $70,000.
He also transferred some of the money to Global Talent Entertainment and spent stolen funds at Louis Vuitton and Luxury Escapes, the court was told.
Judge David Brookes described Desilva's offending as devious, calculated and quite skilful.
"This type of offending is devious and prolonged. It's over 16 months and its quite … complicated," he said.
"It seems to stem from immaturity and grandiose ideas."
Prosecutors said Desilva was trying to establish himself as someone of importance by committing the offence.
He pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception on Friday and has paid Omnivision back the $189,000.
Desilva leaned on his family and friends to pay back the money and was now working two jobs six days a week to pay off his debts, Mr Norton said.
The judge ordered Desilva be assessed for a community corrections order ahead of his sentencing on October 30.
Mr Norton noted media coverage of the case led to the breakdown of Desilva's engagement and caused him mental health issues.
(aap)
1. At the invitation of H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in China from October 16 to 20, 2023.
The retail price of commonly consumed food items recorded a year-on-year increase of roughly 2% between September 2022 and September 2023 and a month-on-month fall of 1.6% in between August and September 2023,a research report rvealed.
Accumulated losses of the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) have exceeded Rs. 20 billion while disparities have taken place since 2015, as revealed by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) today.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it looks forward to analyzing the details of the recent agreement between Sri Lankan authorities and the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of China on debt treatment terms.
A US Navy warship has intercepted missiles and drones launched from Yemen by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, US officials say.
Twenty-seven Indian fishermen, arrested for allegedly poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, were provided material and legal assistance, the Indian mission in Jaffna said.
Last week, the Sri Lankan Navy held two Indian trawlers with 15 Indian fishermen aboard while three Indian trawlers with 12 fishermen aboard were apprehended near the Delft and Kachchativu Islands, local officials here said.
“Consular officials of @CGJaffna provided material & legal assistance to Fifteen Indian fishermen detained in Jaffna District.
Consular officials sought the welfare of fishermen & facilitated phone calls to their family in India,” the Consulate General of India in Jaffna said
Consular officials provided material and legal assistance to 12 fishermen detained in Jaffna district, the Indian mission said.
The latest update from 'IMF Tracker’ of Verité Research, an online platform which tracks the 100 identified commitments in Sri Lanka’s 17th programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
IMF staff and the Sri Lankan authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies to conclude the first review of the 48-month EFF-supported program IMF announced
A survey conducted by the National Physical Planning Department revealed that the population in urban areas has increased to 44.57 percent, said Urban Development, Housing Minister and Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga.