The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday (4) ordered Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser and MP Namal Rajapaksa to be remanded until September 18 after he was arrested over allegations that he received Rs. 100 million as a bribe in connection with the controversial Airbus aircraft procurement deal.
Rajapaksa appeared before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) at around 9.15 a.m. following a notice issued by the Commission requiring him to provide a statement in connection with the matter.
After recording statements from him for nearly five hours, investigators arrested the MP at around 2.09 p.m.
He was subsequently brought before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court at around 3.50 p.m., with proceedings commencing at around 4.30 p.m. before Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama.
Several politicians, including Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Sarath Weerasekara, Ramesh Pathirana, Prasanna Ranatunga, Prasanna Ranaweera, Thenuka Vidanagamage, Sagara Kariyawasam and Premnath C. Dolawatte, as well as Ven. Ittekande Saddhatissa Thera, were present in the courtroom.
Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara, appearing on behalf of the Attorney General’s Department in relation to the joint investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department and CIABOC, presented submissions before court.
The court was told that CIABOC has the power to file indictments even without the assistance of the Attorney General.
Prosecution Details Alleged Money Trail
Deputy Solicitor General Bandara told court that, from the bribe allegedly agreed upon in connection with the Airbus aircraft procurement, US$800,000 — equivalent to approximately Rs. 100 million at the time — had allegedly been handed over in cash to suspect MP Namal Rajapaksa through a company account linked to businessman Nimal Perera.
The Deputy Solicitor General said the international investigation, conducted with mutual legal assistance from Australia, Singapore, France and the United States, was now in its final stages. He presented a detailed account to court of the alleged flow of funds and how the money was allegedly received by Rajapaksa.
He said Airbus of France and SriLankan Airlines had entered into agreements for the purchase of 16 aircraft and alleged that there had been an agreement to pay a bribe of US$1 million for each aircraft.
Following the purchase of two aircraft, Airbus had allegedly transferred €1.454 million — close to US$2 million — as a bribe to an account named “BIZ Solutions INC” maintained at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, the Deputy Solicitor General told court.
Investigators had found that the parent company was registered in Brunei and that its owner and sole director was Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, the wife of former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena, he said.
The Deputy Solicitor General then detailed how the funds credited to the BIZ Solutions INC account were allegedly distributed among several parties.
According to the submissions, €400,000 and AUD 200,000 were transferred from the BIZ Solutions account to a personal account maintained in Kapila Chandrasena’s name at Commonwealth Bank in Australia.
A further €168,400 was allegedly transferred from the same account to a Singapore company named “SL Agro”. From there, payments of Rs. 9 million, Rs. 7 million and Rs. 2 million were allegedly transferred on three occasions to an entity named “Sadisi Media”.
Another Rs. 6 million was allegedly paid directly to Shameendra Rajapaksa. Since Sadisi Media was also owned by him, the Deputy Solicitor General alleged that he had received a total of Rs. 25 million.
The court was told that Shameendra Rajapaksa, who was a director of SriLankan Airlines at the time, is currently residing in the United States and that international steps are being taken to secure his arrest.
Nimal Perera’s Affidavit
Investigators had also found that US$800,000 was transferred on two occasions, on November 19 and December 22, 2014, from the BIZ Solutions account to an account maintained at OCBC Bank in Singapore under the name of Sabre Vision Holding Ltd, a company chaired by businessman Nimal Perera.
The Deputy Solicitor General said investigators recently travelled to Australia and directly recorded a statement from Perera, who currently resides there.
Perera had refused to return to Sri Lanka due to alleged threats to his life and had instead provided an affidavit to CIABOC, the court was told.
According to the Deputy Solicitor General, Perera stated in the affidavit that he had personally handed Rs. 100 million in cash to Namal Rajapaksa. The amount was equivalent at the time to the US$800,000 transferred from the BIZ Solutions INC account to the Sabre Vision Holding Ltd account.
Airbus Officials Provide Statements
The Deputy Solicitor General further told court that Airbus’ parent company had formally agreed to fully cooperate with investigations into the controversial transaction carried out under its former management.
The company had also agreed to provide information to the Sri Lankan Government and give evidence before court, he said.
Accordingly, Airbus had handed over all official documents, emails and bank account records relating to the transaction to Sri Lankan investigators.
Senior Airbus officials had visited Sri Lanka on three occasions and provided four statements, which the prosecution said had revealed clear evidence concerning alleged links between Airbus and Namal Rajapaksa.
The court was also told that steps were being taken to bring Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, the wife of Kapila Chandrasena, back to Sri Lanka and arrest her. The prosecution described her as a key intermediary in the alleged distribution of the bribe money and said she was currently in Australia.
The Deputy Solicitor General requested that Rajapaksa be remanded without bail, citing a special certificate issued by the CIABOC Director General under Section 149 of the new Anti-Corruption Act, alleged serious threats to witnesses and the fact that the investigation was in its final stages.
Responding to a question raised by the Magistrate, the Deputy Solicitor General confirmed that further statements had also been obtained from Nimal Perera’s security officer and driver.
Defence Challenges Nimal Perera’s Credibility
Meanwhile, President’s Counsel Sampath Mendis made the bail application on behalf of Rajapaksa at the request of President’s Counsel Shavendra Perera, who appeared for the MP.
The defence pointed out that the investigation was based on the report of the J.C. Weliamuna Committee appointed in 2015 and a complaint made to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).
It was also noted that Kapila Chandrasena and his wife had been arrested in 2020 and released on bail shortly afterwards.
President’s Counsel Mendis argued before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court that Rajapaksa had been arrested in connection with the Airbus transaction without any physical evidence and solely on the statement of one individual whose credibility was questionable.
The defence stressed that neither Airbus officials nor French authorities had stated that they had given money to Namal Rajapaksa.
Mendis further argued that investigators had so far failed to present any physical or scientific evidence before court to corroborate Nimal Perera’s claim that the money had been handed over to Rajapaksa in cash.
The President’s Counsel strongly questioned the credibility of Perera, whom the prosecution had presented as its key witness, and drew the court’s attention to the case concerning the Krrish transaction currently being heard before the Colombo High Court.
The defence said that, in the Krrish case, Perera had previously told court that the Sabre Vision Holding Ltd account into which the money was allegedly transferred did not belong to him but to an Italian friend.
Mendis argued that it was a serious issue to arrest individuals on the basis of evidence from a person who had allegedly made contradictory statements on several occasions.
He questioned why Perera’s statements were now being given such credibility in 2026 when the CID had not believed statements made by him in 2019.
The defence alleged that the process amounted to selectively changing the treatment of evidence to suit the circumstances.
Mendis maintained that no reasonable grounds had been presented to justify remanding his client on the basis of what he described as baseless and contradictory evidence.
He asked court to consider the alleged credibility issues surrounding the witness as an exceptional circumstance and release Rajapaksa on bail under any conditions the court deemed appropriate.
Magistrate Rejects Bail Application
After considering submissions from both sides, Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama delivered his order.
The Magistrate noted that a certificate issued by the CIABOC Director General under the Anti-Corruption Act had been submitted to court in relation to the suspect and that the certificate had not been challenged.
In such circumstances, the Magistrate observed, bail could only be granted if exceptional circumstances were established.
The principal exceptional circumstance advanced by the defence concerned the credibility of Nimal Perera’s evidence.
However, the Magistrate held that the credibility of a witness could only be determined through a legal process such as cross-examination at trial and that the Magistrate’s Court was therefore not in a position at this stage to determine the credibility of that evidence.
Accordingly, the Magistrate declined to accept the grounds advanced by the defence as exceptional circumstances and ordered MP Namal Rajapaksa to be remanded until September 18.
Chief Magistrate Bodaragama also ordered CIABOC to submit to court on that date a summary of the evidence contained in statements provided by Airbus officials, together with a progress report on the investigation.
Background to Airbus Investigation
Former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, who had been accused of accepting a US$2 million bribe in connection with the purchase of 14 Airbus aircraft for SriLankan Airlines in 2013 and was out on bail, died under mysterious circumstances on May 8.
His death occurred amid moves to arrest him again, with police suspecting that he had died by suicide.
A joint investigation involving British, U.S. and French authorities had uncovered that Airbus paid large bribes to secure deals in foreign countries.
Proceedings before international courts had also established that a US$16 million bribe had been promised in connection with the Sri Lankan transaction and that part of the money had allegedly been released to officials.
The Sabre Vision Holdings account has also featured as key evidence in the High Court case against Namal Rajapaksa over the alleged receipt of Rs. 70 million in connection with the Krrish transaction in Colombo Fort.
