Ex‑SriLankan Airlines CEO Claims Rs. 60 Mn Paid to Mahinda Rajapaksa in Airbus Deal

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka’s Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) informed court on Thursday (20) that former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena has stated that a sum of Rs. 60 million was paid to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on three separate occasions in connection with the controversial Airbus aircraft transaction.

The disclosure was made when the case related to the Airbus deal was taken up before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.

According to the Bribery Commission, the claim was revealed through a statement made by Chandrasena, who is a suspect in the case.

During Thursday’s proceedings, the Magistrate ordered that Kapila Chandrasena be further remanded until April 2.

Here's a background to this story:

On the 12th of March, former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena was arrested upon arriving at the Bribery Commission this morning to provide a statement.

Why was Kapila Chandrasena arrested?

Investigations are underway regarding a corrupt transaction involving the planned purchase of 10 Airbus aircraft for SriLankan Airlines during the 2012-2013 period.

The investigation into this transaction is being conducted in coordination with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

During the 2012-2013 period, a proposal was submitted for the removal of 13 aircraft from SriLankan Airlines and replace them with 14 brand-new aircraft.

A contract was signed with the French Airbus company, to purchase 6 A330 aircraft and 4 A350 aircraft among those.

Who uncovered the fraud in this transaction?

Information regarding a serious fraud in this deal was revealed in January 2020.

This came to light following the disclosure of details from an investigation conducted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the United Kingdom.

Investigations revealed that the French Airbus company had promised to pay a bribe of US$ 16.84 million for the deal to purchase the 10 Airbus aircraft.

Was it revealed that bribes were paid?

Yes.

The investigation conducted by the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) revealed that $2 million of this money had been credited to an account in Brunei belonging to a company owned by the wife of the then CEO of SriLankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena.

According to investigative information, the funds received by the Brunei-based company in his wife’s name were transferred by Kapila Chandrasena on several occasions through a Singaporean account to his own account in Australia.

Further investigations have revealed that money from Singapore had also been transferred to two accounts within Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Shamindra Rajapaksa, the son of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, has been named as the third suspect in this case.

This follows the disclosure that a sum of 160,000 US dollars was credited to a bank account belonging to him in 2013.