Former Civil Aviation Minister Piyankara Jayaratne was yesterday (1) sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) by the Colombo High Court after being found guilty of corruption charges relating to a Rs 320,000 payment made by SriLankan Catering.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) had filed the case against Jayaratne, alleging that he committed the offence of corruption by causing a financial loss to the Government.

The case centred on an incident in 2014, when Jayaratne, who was serving as Civil Aviation Minister, allegedly requested SriLankan Catering to provide lunch for his supporters participating in that year’s May Day parade.

According to the indictment, SriLankan Catering, a State-owned enterprise, subsequently released Rs 320,000 from its account to a private catering service in Marawila to provide the refreshments.

The prosecution alleged that Jayaratne had used his position as Minister to influence an executive officer of SriLankan Catering to make the payment.

Following a lengthy trial before Colombo High Court Judge Mohamed Mihail, the Court had fixed yesterday for the delivery of the verdict.

The Court subsequently found Jayaratne guilty and imposed the seven-year sentence of rigorous imprisonment over the offence.

The case was instituted by CIABOC based on allegations that the payment, which was made from the funds of the State-owned SriLankan Catering, had been caused by Jayaratne for the benefit of his political supporters, resulting in a loss to the Government.