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Bribery Commission summons Nadesan for second statement 

12 Oct 2021

  • Date to summon Nirupama to be decided after 15 Oct. 
BY Pamodi Waravita The Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) will be summoning Thirukumar Nadesan, the husband of former Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa, both of whom were named in the Pandora Papers files leak, to record a second statement on 15 October, The Morning learnt. Official sources told The Morning that Nadesan has been requested to make another statement on 15 October, following which the Commission will decide on a date to summon Rajapaksa for a statement. Nadesan already made a statement before the Commission on 7 October. Nirupama Rajapaksa – the niece of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa – and Nadesan, have been named in the recent International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Pandora Papers file leak. The documents allege that the couple were involved in shell companies (inactive companies used as vehicles for various financial manoeuvres or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity) located in tax havens, which in turn obtained lucrative consulting contracts from foreign companies doing business with the Government of Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa, on 6 October, instructed the CIABOC to launch an immediate investigation into the allegations against Sri Lankans implicated in the Pandora Papers files leak in connection with transactions, including the maintenance of large cash deposits. Presidential Secretariat Legal Affairs Director General and Attorney-at-Law Harigupta Rohanadheera, in his letter to the CIABOC, has requested a report regarding the matter within a month from 6 October. However, neither Nirupama Rajapaksa nor Nadesan have been named in the letter. The main parliamentary Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the Lawyers’ Forum for the People organisation also filed complaints at the CIABOC in this regard. Furthermore, the SJB filed a right to information (RTI) request at the Election Commission requesting the Commission to reveal the assets declarations made by Nirupama Rajapaksa to the Election Commission between 1994 and 2015. In 2016, when Basil Rajapaksa was accused of using public funds to build a villa in Malwana, Nadesan was also charged with embezzlement in connection with the incident. Although the pair has since denied any wrongdoing, the legal case into the matter is still ongoing. The ICIJ also revealed that when Nadesan was arrested on embezzlement charges related to this case, he wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe proclaiming his innocence. He had said that he was unaware until he read news reports that Basil Rajapaksa had built a house on his property. He had added that the land was then sold to avoid “harm to his name and reputation”. “I request you to appreciate that I have not done anything improper or illegal and to therefore do justice by me. My transactions are transparent and a matter of record,” Nadesan wrote, according to the ICIJ. The ICIJ further said that Asiaciti Trust, a Singapore-based offshore services provider which managed some of Nadesan’s offshore accounts, had stated in confidential electronic mails, that as of 2011, Nadesan’s overall wealth was $ 160 million. An analysis by the ICIJ has found that the Asiaciti Trust alone managed assets valued at about $ 18 million for Nadesan.  

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