Namal Rajapaksa named suspect in SriLankan Airlines bribery case

Sri Lankan authorities have moved to name Member of Parliament Namal Rajapaksa as a suspect in a bribery investigation involving the procurement of Airbus aircraft by SriLankan Airlines. The Attorney General has instructed the Criminal Investigation Department to proceed with the motion following allegations that a portion of bribe money received by Kapila Chandrasena, the former CEO of SriLankan Airlines, was transferred to Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa was recently arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption on charges of accepting approximately 100 million Sri Lankan rupees in bribes during 2014 and 2015. Following his arrest, the court ordered him to be remanded.

The investigation stems from international scrutiny of Airbus, which reached a settlement regarding bribery investigations in 2020. While previous investigations into airline officials and business intermediaries had been conducted, the current proceedings mark a significant escalation as investigators target a member of one of Sri Lanka’s most prominent political families.