Sri Lanka’s ex-first lady arrested in charity corruption probe

Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption authority arrested former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa on Wednesday over allegations that her charity misused donations collected for a children’s hospital.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government has revived long-dormant corruption investigations involving members of the once-powerful Rajapaksa family, which dominated Sri Lankan politics for nearly two decades.

The 73-year-old wife of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested in Colombo and driven to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) for further interrogation.

“The arrest is in connection with her Siriliya Saviya Foundation,” a CIABOC official told reporters at the Rajapaksa home in the capital.

She is due to be taken before court later on Wednesday, when a magistrate will decide if she can be released on bail.

Her lawyer, Manoj Gamage, told reporters that she denied the allegations made against her and would contest the charges of misappropriating donations raised for charity.

The CIABOC also arrested the former head of a state-owned bank in connection to a 10 million rupee donation (US$30,000) to the charity, the agency said.

Pradeep Kariyawasam, the then chairman of the National Savings Bank, was accused of donating public funds to the Rajapaksa charity without following proper financial regulations.

Shiranthi Rajapaksa travelled to Singapore on September 16 for medical treatment, and was served with a summons at Colombo airport to provide a statement to police about her charity.

She flew back on Monday after filing a court petition seeking to prevent her arrest, but the hearing for anticipatory bail was fixed for October 12.

Police said authorities wanted to question Shiranthi Rajapaksa over the 10 million rupees in donations collected by her Siriliya Saviya charity for a PET scanner intended for a local cancer hospital for children.

Investigators told a court that the scanner had already been donated by the Chinese government, but the charity allegedly continued to solicit donations and misused the funds.

Shiranthi Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing, saying the money had not been misappropriated.

Other members of the family have also faced legal troubles.

The former first lady’s eldest son, opposition lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, is in remand custody over allegations linked to a 2013 Airbus aircraft deal signed during his father’s presidency.

The Rajapaksa family has consistently denied the corruption allegations and dismissed the cases against them as politically motivated.

Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president from 2005 to 2015 and remains one of Sri Lanka’s most influential political figures, despite the decline in the family’s fortunes since mass protests ousted his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, from the presidency in 2022.