Justice Minister, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe stated that he had been tipped off on several occasions about a local official being bribed by the insurer of the tanker MV X-Press Pearl, which was gutted in a fire that erupted off the Western coast of Sri Lanka, two years ago.
He made this revelation while addressing a media briefing in Colombo on Tuesday (18).
According to him, speculations are rife that a local official has received a bribe of $ 250 million from the vessel’s insurers to disrupt the litigation and compensation processes.
He said that he has given directives to the Inspector General of Police Chandana D. Wickramaratne and the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigations Department to initiate an investigation to uncover the truth.