• CIABOC alleges payments linked to SriLankan Airlines aircraft procurement
• Businessman claims $ 800,000 received in Singapore; equivalent handed to Rajapaksa
• Airbus officials prepared to testify in SL: CIABOC

SLPP National Organiser MP Namal Rajapaksa was remanded until 18 September by Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama on Friday (4), after being arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) over allegations that he had accepted Rs. 100 million in bribes linked to an aircraft procurement deal involving SriLankan Airlines.

Rajapaksa appeared before the CIABOC on Friday morning in connection with the investigation and was arrested by the commission’s investigating officers at around 2.15 p.m. the same day after providing a five-hour statement.

According to the CIABOC, the investigation concerns funds allegedly paid as bribes in connection with the purchase of aircraft for SriLankan Airlines. The commission alleges that € 1,454,651.24 was received as a bribe into an account maintained at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore under the name Biz Solutions Inc. 

Of that amount, $ 800,000 was allegedly transferred to an OCBC Bank account in Singapore held under Sabre Vision Holdings Ltd., a company owned by a Sri Lankan businessman. The commission alleges that, corresponding to those funds, Rajapaksa received a total of Rs. 100 million from a Sri Lankan businessman on several occasions during 2014 and 2015.

The CIABOC said that the arrest followed an investigation based on a statement from the Sri Lankan businessman, statements provided to the commission by officials of France-based Airbus, and documents and other information gathered during the probe.

In court, the CIABOC presented key evidence, including an affidavit and a statement from Australian-based businessman Nimal Perera. According to Perera’s statement, Airbus sent funds to the account of Sabre Vision, a Singapore-based company, which were then distributed to three accounts: those of Kapila Chandrasena, Shamindra Rajapaksa, and Nimal Perera. 

Perera, according to the CIABOC, stated that he received $ 800,000 in two tranches of $ 400,000 each and subsequently handed over this money to Namal Rajapaksa in Sri Lankan Rupees. 

The CIABOC also informed the court that Airbus representatives had already cooperated with the investigation by providing emails and bank details, and that their officials were prepared to travel to Sri Lanka to testify during the trial.

Rajapaksa’s lawyers strongly contested the allegations and requested bail, arguing that there was no solid proof of the bribe other than Perera’s statement. 

The defence argued that Perera was an unreliable witness, pointing out that he had previously changed his statements during the Krrish court case, as noted by the commission itself.  They urged the court to treat the witness’s lack of credibility as a ‘special circumstance’ warranting bail. 

Rajapaksa’s lawyers did not present any health condition as a reason for seeking bail.

The prosecution countered by submitting a certificate under Section 149 of the Bribery Act, which restricts the court from granting bail unless highly exceptional special circumstances are proven. 

The Magistrate rejected the defence’s application, ruling that the credibility of a witness could not be considered a special circumstance for bail at this stage, and noting that the witness’s trustworthiness was a matter to be determined during the trial in the High Court when he is summoned to give evidence. Rajapaksa’s bail was accordingly denied and he was remanded until 18 September.

Section 149 of Sri Lanka’s Anti-Corruption Act No.9 of 2023 governs bail and pre-trial detention for major corruption offences. Under the provision, individuals accused of soliciting or offering bribes above Rs. 100,000 or of causing Government losses or gaining advantages exceeding Rs. 500,000 face restrictions under which bail may be granted only in exceptional circumstances by the High Court.

The case forms part of a wider CIABOC investigation into the SriLankan Airlines-Airbus aircraft deal. 

The commission earlier told court that funds allegedly received as bribes had been distributed by former CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister of Civil Aviation Piyankara Jayaratne, with part of the funds also allegedly transferred to an account belonging to Shamindra Rajapaksa, a former member of the SriLankan Airlines Board of Directors. 

Chandrasena, who died on 8 May, had earlier told investigators that he had handed over Rs. 60 million to former President Rajapaksa in three instalments in 2015, a statement that formed the basis for summoning the former President, who appeared before the CIABOC on 12 May.

The broader probe concerns allegations that Airbus used intermediaries to secure long-term aircraft purchase and leasing contracts with SriLankan Airlines between 2011 and 2015, though the manufacturer is alleged to have ultimately paid only a fraction of the sums agreed upon.

Friday’s arrest is the fourth time Namal Rajapaksa has faced arrest in connection with financial and protest-related investigations since 2016, including the 2016 Krrish Transworks case, over which he was later indicted, and the HelloCorp/Gowers Corporate Services money laundering case, in which he was acquitted by the Colombo High Court in November 2023.