Former Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, Nishantha Wickramasinghe, who was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), has been further remanded until 15 July following his appearance before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court today (1).

Wickramasinghe was arrested on 27 June at around 12:18 p.m. in Nawala on charges related to alleged acts of corruption during his tenure at the national carrier.

According to CIABOC, the arrest was made as part of an ongoing investigation into three separate incidents of corruption attributed to Wickramasinghe’s decisions while serving as Chairman of SriLankan Airlines.

The charges include:

1. Causing a financial loss of USD 4,512 to the government by altering the destination of flight UL319, which was originally scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Katunayake on 22 January 2014.
2. Causing a financial loss of USD 19,160 to the government by offloading 75 passengers who had arrived from the Maldives and were scheduled to travel to France on flight UL563 on 26 January 2014.
3. Misusing public funds amounting to LKR 1,250,000 on 19 December 2014, allegedly spent on an election campaign event held at the 18th Mile Post Stadium in Katunayake in support of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.