Minister of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake on Thursday (8) placed before Parliament a 10-page document that sets out 50 corruption, fraud, and criminal cases involving former ministers, politicians, members of the Rajapaksa family, and senior State officials, as the Government seeks to answer accusations that it is targeting its political rivals.
Speaking in the House, Rathnayake maintained that the exercise was not about political revenge and underscored that there would be no room for a corrupt government in the country again.
His central argument was one of chronology. He said the cases had not been begun by the present administration, but traced back to complaints and legal proceedings from the 2015–2019 period.
He claimed that earlier governments had allowed the investigations to be suppressed through political influence, while investigators today operated free of such interference.
The list names former Ministers Johnston Fernando, Wimal Weerawansa, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Basil Rajapaksa, Rajitha Senaratne, Ravi Karunanayake, Prasanna Ranatunga, A.H.M. Fowzie, Bandula Gunawardena, and Rohitha Bogollagama, along with seven members of the Rajapaksa family: Namal, Yoshitha, Gotabaya, Shiranthi, Rohitha, Chamal, and Shasheendra Rajapaksa. It also reaches beyond politicians, as Police officers and businesspeople feature as well.
The sums involved vary widely. The largest relates to Nissanka Senadhipathi, over the alleged unlawful possession of firearms through a private security company, with reported losses of Rs. 11.4 billion.
Other entries include the Central Bank bond transactions involving former Governor Arjuna Mahendran and businessman Arjun Aloysius, along with Namal Rajapaksa’s alleged receipt of Rs. 70 million from India’s Krrish Group, alleged fraud of over $ 7 million in the MiG-27 procurement, and Rs. 234 million allegedly used to set up the Carlton Sports Network.
The document further covers the Easter Sunday attacks, the killings of Lasantha Wickrematunge and Wasim Thajudeen, the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, and the attacks on journalists Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennakoon.
It is the status of these cases, however, that raises the more uncomfortable questions. Rathnayake’s own point about cases lingering for years is borne out by the list. Basil Rajapaksa, accused in relation to Rs. 3 billion in Divi Neguma funds spent on roofing sheets during an election period, was acquitted by the High Court and the Attorney General has appealed.
Former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga was convicted over the use of Rs. 600 million in Telecommunications Regulatory Commission funds to distribute sil cloth during the 2015 Presidential Election, but that conviction is under appeal. Some matters remain at the investigation stage, while others are before appellate courts.
In other words, a document meant to demonstrate momentum also shows how few of these cases have reached a final outcome, years after the complaints were made. That is likely to remain the crux of the debate: whether the pace of prosecutions reflects an independent process finally unblocked, as the Government argues, or something slower than the rhetoric suggests.
The tabling also comes amid a flurry of court activity involving the Rajapaksa family. Former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa is in remand custody and the Colombo High Court recently rejected preliminary objections raised in the case against Shasheendra Rajapaksa.