Former SriLankan airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena released on bail

Colombo (News 1st) - Colombo (News 1st) - Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake ordered for Former Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Wijenayake to be released on bail. The Magistrate ordered the duo to be released on a cash bail worth 2 million rupees each and 2 surety bails each worth 20 million rupees. Indictments against Kapila Chandrasena and his wife have been filed for obtaining a commission of 2 million USD during the SriLankan Airlines - Airbus re-fleet deal and for laundering the money to a bank account in Australia. The duo was arrested when they surrendered themselves to the CID on the 6th of last month. Today, the CID presented further facts to court in this regard. The CID had interrogated a Director of the company named SL Agro, which is implicated in this transaction. According to the details revealed during the interrogation, the director had deposited a sum of 160,000 Euros to the account of SL Agro based on a request made by a person named Yohan Abeywickrema. When the Magistrate questioned the purpose as to why SL Agro was incorporated, Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige said, the company had been registered to a project to cultivate Avocados. The Deputy Solicitor General added, although the company had been registered to an address in Mount Lavinia, it had been difficult to obtain information regarding the company. It was revealed in court today that SL Agro had received a sum of 25 million rupees and on the 2nd of December 2014, the sum of money had been removed from the company through 4 separate cheques. Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige said, 17 million rupees from the initial 25 million had been converted on two occasions. The director of SL Agro had also said that he had cashed the rest of the money via cheques. When probing the person who had cashed the relevant cheques, details of a person named Saranga Wijayantha, a resident of Embuldeniya had emerged. His spouse had informed officials of the CID that he is currently in Trincomalee. The Attorney General's Department informed courts that it intends to summon the individual to record evidence. It was also revealed in court that the person named Yohan Abeywickreme who advised to deposit the sum of 25 million rupees to the bank account of SL Agro, is deceased and that he was 27 years of age at the time of death. The attorneys at law representing the suspects pointed out since this had taken place through a string of bank transactions and because the CID had revealed all relevant details regarding the issue, their clients cannot influence the proceedings of the investigations. Therefore, taking into consideration the requests made by the attorneys at law the magistrate ordered the suspects to be released on bail.