Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna National Organiser and Member of Parliament Namal Rajapaksa was remanded until 18 September on Friday evening, hours after his arrest by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

The order was made by Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama after submissions from Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara, appearing for CIABOC, and Rajapaksa’s lawyers, Ada Derana reported. He was later escorted from the court into a prison bus and taken to remand prison as a large crowd of party members and supporters gathered outside.

The charge, for the first time

CIABOC issued a statement setting out the allegation — the first public account of what Rajapaksa is accused of.

The Commission alleges he accepted a bribe equivalent to Rs. 100 million in connection with SriLankan Airlines’ purchase of aircraft. According to CIABOC, a total alleged bribe payment of €1,454,651.24 was made, out of which US$800,000 was remitted to a Sri Lankan businessman through an account in the name of Biz Solutions Inc. at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. Those funds were then deposited into an account at OCBC Bank in Singapore held by Sabre Vision Holdings, a company owned by the same businessman, NewsFirst reported.

The Rs. 100 million equivalent was allegedly paid on several occasions during 2014 and 2015.

Investigators say the allegations rest on statements from the businessman — himself named a suspect — statements obtained from Airbus officials in France who appeared before the Commission, and documentary and electronic evidence.

NewsFirst and Hiru both describe the US$800,000 as drawn from the euro sum; the Daily Mirror phrases it as a bribe “comprised” of both figures, which would read as additive. The two accounts have not been reconciled.

How the date was fixed

NewsFirst’s fuller account also settles a discrepancy left open earlier this week. The Commission first instructed Rajapaksa to appear on 4 September; he asked instead for the 3rd, and the Commission agreed. His lawyer, Muditha R. Lokumudali, then wrote saying he could only attend on or after 25 September. The Commission rejected that, notified him by WhatsApp message that the original date stood, and warned that legal action would follow if he did not comply.

He arrived at about 9.15 a.m. and spoke briefly to reporters. “Clearly, I haven’t done anything wrong. We have no need to do anything wrong. That’s why we are ready to face any independent investigation at any time,” he said.

Update: the businessman is named, and the defence attacks his credibility

A later Daily Mirror report names the businessman at the centre of the money trail — the man the Commission’s own account leaves anonymous — and sets out the argument Rajapaksa’s lawyers made against him in court.

President’s Counsel Sampath Mendis, appearing for Rajapaksa, told the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court that his client had been arrested and produced before court solely on the basis of a statement by businessman Nimal Perera, the Daily Mirror reported.

The defence challenged Perera’s credibility, arguing that neither French officials nor officials of Airbus had said they gave money to Rajapaksa.

Mendis told the court that a separate case involving Perera — relating to the “Krrish transaction” — is being heard before the High Court, and that money in that matter had also allegedly been received into an account belonging to Sabre Vision Holding Ltd. That is the same company CIABOC places at the end of the alleged Airbus money trail, at OCBC Bank in Singapore. In the Krrish matter, counsel said, Perera had previously told investigators the account was not his but belonged to an Italian friend.

“Accordingly, Nimal Perera is saying one thing then and another thing today. In 2019, the Criminal Investigation Department did not believe what Nimal Perera had said. If so, how can Nimal Perera be believed in 2026?”

Describing this as applying a different standard when convenient, Mendis asked the court to treat the credibility issue as an exceptional circumstance and grant bail. Rajapaksa was remanded.

The Krrish thread runs separately through Rajapaksa’s own caseload: the Attorney General alleges he committed criminal breach of trust by obtaining Rs. 70 million from the India-based company on the pretext of promoting rugby, and the Colombo High Court fixed that trial to begin on 7 July. Avant-Garde chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi gave a statement to CIABOC on the Krrish deal in August.

Update, September 5: four countries assisted, and the case is at its “final stage”

A fuller Daily Mirror court report published on Friday sets out the prosecution’s case in far more detail than any earlier account, and records the magistrate’s reasons for refusing bail.

Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara told the court the arrest followed a joint investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department and CIABOC, and that it had drawn on formal assistance from four governments.

“My Lord, with the mutual assistance of Australia, Singapore, France and the United States of America, this investigation has now reached its final stage. The agreement in this transaction had been to obtain a bribe of US$1 million for each aircraft.”

The US$1 million per aircraft figure is new, and is the first time the alleged arrangement has been described as a per-unit rate rather than a lump sum. The SriLankan order at the centre of the inquiry covered six A330 and eight A350 aircraft — fourteen in all.

The money trail, with dates

The prosecution’s account, as reported by the Daily Mirror, runs as follows.

Airbus paid €1.454 million as a bribe into an account at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore in the name of BIZ Solutions Inc., a company the DSG said was solely owned by Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, wife of former SriLankan chief executive Kapila Chandrasena. From that account, money was moved on two occasions — 19 November and 22 December 2014 — into an account at OCBC Bank in Singapore held by Sabre Vision Holding Ltd, chaired by Nimal Perera.

That dating is narrower than CIABOC’s earlier public statement, which put the alleged payments across “several occasions during 2014 and 2015.” The two accounts have not been reconciled, and no outlet has noted the difference.

How Perera’s evidence was obtained

Investigators travelled to Australia, where Perera now lives, and recorded a statement from him. He has refused to return to Sri Lanka, citing death threats, and instead gave CIABOC an affidavit.

In it, according to the DSG, he states that US$800,000 received from the BIZ Solutions account into his Sabre Vision account was handed to Namal Rajapaksa — the sum the Commission equates to Rs. 100 million.

This settles a point the earlier reporting left open: the US$800,000 is described as drawn from the euro payment, supporting the NewsFirst and Hiru reading over the Daily Mirror’s earlier additive phrasing.

Airbus is now cooperating

Bandara told the court that Airbus’s parent company has agreed to assist with any investigation into the transaction. Senior Airbus officials have visited Sri Lanka on three occasions and provided four statements, along with a number of documents. Information about the relationship between Airbus and the suspect had also been revealed, he said.

The charges

The DSG named the provisions relied on: Sections 17(a), 17(c) and 25 of the Bribery Act, read with Section 113 of the Penal Code. A certificate issued by CIABOC’s Director General under Section 149 of the Anti-Corruption Act was submitted against the suspect. On that basis he asked the court to refuse bail.

Why bail was refused

The magistrate’s reasoning, as reported, turned on a narrow point. Because the suspect is charged under Section 149 of the Anti-Corruption Act, special circumstances must be shown before bail can be granted. The only special circumstance advanced by the defence was the credibility of Perera’s statement.

That, the magistrate held, is not something the court can determine at this stage:

“The credibility of the suspect’s statement cannot be determined by this Court through a summary of evidence. The credibility of a witness’s statement can only be considered after the commencement of the trial.”

Credibility could be tested when the suspect gives evidence and the witness is cross-examined, but not before. Since no other special circumstance was advanced, no grounds for bail were established.

Political reaction

The United National Party condemned the arrest, saying it appeared aimed at disrupting an SLPP rally scheduled for Anuradhapura on 12 September under Rajapaksa’s leadership.

“It is clear that the arrest of MP Rajapaksa was aimed at sabotaging the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) rally to be held at Anuradhapura on September 12. The SLPP MP has the same right to hold rallies just as President Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” the party said in a statement carried by Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror. “No one, especially the Gen Z generation of youth, will approve this kind of act.”

The wider case

The Airbus inquiry concerns SriLankan Airlines’ 2013 acquisition of six A330 and eight A350 aircraft. Former chief executive Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake were accused of accepting US$2 million; Chandrasena was arrested on 12 March, bailed, and found dead on 8 May. Open warrants stand for Wijenayake and for Shamindra Rajapaksa before the Fort Magistrate’s Court.

Separately, former minister Johnston Fernando was granted bail the same evening in an unrelated CIABOC case.

Not yet reported

The Daily Mirror’s court reports answer several questions left open earlier: the businessman is Nimal Perera; bail was sought and refused at the remand hearing itself rather than deferred; Perera’s evidence was taken in Australia and given as an affidavit because he will not return, citing death threats; the US$800,000 is drawn from the euro payment rather than added to it; and the prosecution says the investigation is at its final stage.

What remains unreported is whether Perera has responded to the defence’s characterisation of his evidence, and whether CIABOC will address the 2019 discrepancy the defence raised — the Friday report sets out his affidavit but carries no answer to the credibility attack. No outlet has reconciled the “19 November and 22 December 2014” dating against CIABOC’s earlier “several occasions during 2014 and 2015,” identified the death threats Perera cites or whether they have been reported to any authority, said what became of the Krrish-case account question, or reported whether a fresh bail application will be made before 18 September.

Also unreported: whether the four assisting governments acted under formal mutual legal assistance treaties, what the “final stage” means for a charging timetable, whether Airbus’s cooperation extends to its 2020 deferred prosecution agreements abroad, and whether further suspects will be arrested. The SLPP itself had issued no formal statement at the time of writing — the condemnation above came from the UNP.

Update, September 5: the SLPP has since issued a statement calling the remand political retaliation and confirming its 12 September Anuradhapura rally will go ahead, and Mahinda Rajapaksa visited his son in remand prison — see SLPP calls Namal Rajapaksa’s remand political revenge.

Sources