Sri Lanka, Oct. 24 -- Former Minister A.H.M. Fowzie has publicly apologised to the Sri Lankan people through a newspaper advertisement, in compliance with a Supreme Court order concerning the misuse of a luxury vehicle belonging to the Disaster Management Centre.

The Supreme Court ruled that Fowzie violated the fundamental right to equality by using a Toyota Land Cruiser, bearing registration number KI-4666, assigned to the Disaster Management Centre, for his personal use.

The Court also ordered the former minister to pay approximately 6.6 million rupees to the State's Consolidated Fund and publish public apologies in Sinhala, Tamil and English newspapers.

Fowzie has taken steps to comply with the ruling by publishing the apology in a ...