Former Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Kamal Bandara Dissanayake, has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

He is accused of violating procurement procedures when printing books for the ministry on three occasions, at a total cost of Rs. 4.79 million.

CIABOC alleges that the printing was awarded to a favoured institution and payments were made despite the relevant books not being received by the ministry’s warehouse.

The suspect is due to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.