The eldest son of former Colombo Mayor A. J. M. Muzammil has been arrested by the Central Crime Investigation Bureau at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, Hiru News reported.
The arrest followed a complaint over the non-payment of close to Rs. 36 million owed in connection with a building construction project.
The Central Crime Investigation Bureau is conducting further investigations into the suspect.
Hiru did not name the man, state his age, or say whether he was leaving or entering the country when he was detained. It also did not report which project the complaint concerns, who made it, or when the suspect is due to be produced in court. No other verified newsroom had carried the arrest at the time of writing.
Update, September 3: the charge, the exact sum and the arresting agency
NewsFirst carried the arrest a day later with substantially more detail, citing police.
The businessman was arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday (2) afternoon on allegations of criminal breach of trust. He was taken into custody by Immigration and Emigration officials when he arrived at the airport in an attempt to leave the country — settling the direction of travel Hiru left open.
Investigators allege he failed to make a payment of Rs. 36,025,977 relating to the construction of a housing complex, giving rise to the allegation that he breached the trust placed in him in the transaction. He was then handed to investigators and taken to the Colombo Central Crimes Investigation Bureau, where inquiries continue.
That resolves the question of which agency made the arrest. Hiru’s account attributed the arrest itself to the CCIB; NewsFirst’s sequence has Immigration officers detaining him at the counter and the bureau taking custody afterwards. Both descriptions are consistent with the same events.
NewsFirst refers to him only as “a businessman” and does not mention A. J. M. Muzammil or any family connection. Hiru is the only outlet to identify him as the former mayor’s eldest son; NewsFirst is the only one to give the charge and the exact figure. Neither named him at that stage.
Update, September 4: the suspect is named, and a travel ban explains the arrest
The Daily Mirror identified the man two days after the arrest as Mohamed Hisham Jamaldeen, 47, son of former Western Province Governor and former Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil, citing police.
He was arrested by Immigration and Emigration officials at Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday, 2 September, while preparing to board SriLankan Airlines flight UL-503 to London at about 1.45 p.m. He was handed to the Katunayake Airport Police and later taken to the Colombo Central Crimes Investigation Bureau. He was subsequently produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court.
That closes most of what the earlier reports left open: his name, his age, the precise time and flight, and the fact that he did reach court.
It also answers the question of what stopped him at the counter. The Daily Mirror reports the arrest was made in connection with a travel ban imposed on him as part of an ongoing investigation by the Colombo Financial and Fraud Investigation Division — a court-ordered restriction already in force before he arrived, rather than a decision taken at the airport. Neither Hiru nor NewsFirst had reported the ban.
Two figures, two framings — probably one matter
The Daily Mirror describes the allegation as fraud exceeding Rs. 30 million, involving Jamaldeen presenting himself as a director of a company named Mulberry Holdings. NewsFirst describes criminal breach of trust over an unpaid Rs. 36,025,977 relating to the construction of a housing complex.
The two accounts are close enough in amount that “more than Rs. 30 million” is consistent with the exact figure, and criminal breach of trust and fraud are common alternative descriptions of the same underlying allegation at an early stage. They also name different investigating units — NewsFirst and Hiru put the case with the CCIB, the Daily Mirror attributes the travel ban to the Financial and Fraud Investigation Division, though the Daily Mirror also has him taken to the CCIB after arrest.
No outlet states that these are the same matter, and none reports two separate allegations either. They should be read as one case described in different terms until an outlet says otherwise.
Still unreported
No outlet has identified the housing complex or the complainant, said what the Maligakanda court ordered, or reported whether bail was granted or opposed. None explains the relationship between Mulberry Holdings and the housing project, when the travel ban was imposed, or why he was travelling to London.
