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The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption took former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa into custody on October 7 at the family’s residence in Colombo’s Kirulapone area. Officers arrived around 10 a.m. local time and later moved the 73-year-old to commission headquarters for further questioning, a commission official told reporters outside the property. She faces allegations tied to corruption and misappropriation of public property under relevant laws and is expected to appear before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court later Wednesday, the Daily Mirror reported.
Investigators from the Financial Crimes Investigation Division have focused on 10 million rupees provided by the National Savings Bank to the Siriliya Saviya Foundation, which Rajapaksa chaired during her husband Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency from 2005 to 2015. The funds were solicited for a PET scanner at Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in Colombo, yet a similar machine had already been supplied by the Chinese government under a loan facility, according to an assessment shared with the court. Asian Mirror reported that preliminary findings indicated the donation was presented as originating from the foundation while the bank money was not applied to the intended purchase.
Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s spokesperson Manoj Gamage has maintained that the full amount remains in the foundation’s account with no personal withdrawals. “Not a single rupee collected in the Siriliya account to purchase the scanner was taken by her for personal use or any other purpose. All the funds, including the Rs. 2 million donated by People’s Bank, remain safely in that account to this day,” Gamage said. He added that neither Rajapaksa nor any family member had benefited from the money in question.
Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka on October 5 after medical treatment in Singapore, where she received a summons from the Financial Crimes Investigation Division at the airport on September 16, The Hindu reported. Her legal team filed for anticipatory bail on the morning of her arrest, though the scheduled hearing for that petition falls on October 12. The commission proceeded with the arrest regardless, citing offences under the Public Property Act, according to statements from officials involved in the case.
The development reflects a renewed push by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government to address long-standing graft allegations against the Rajapaksa family, which The Hindu noted dominated Sri Lankan politics for nearly two decades until 2015. A separate examination of the Siriliya Saviya Foundation’s accounts has revealed 82.9 million rupees credited across 88 transactions and 39 million rupees withdrawn in 129 others, Sri Lanka Brief reported, alongside a fixed deposit matching the scanner amount and a property purchase registered to an associate. The family has consistently described such cases as politically driven.
Rajapaksa’s eldest son Namal Rajapaksa, an opposition parliamentarian, has been held in remand prison since early September on unrelated bribery charges linked to an Airbus deal, The Print reported. Investigators have also reviewed claims involving luxury buses imported under duty waivers that allegedly ended up with a preschool connected to the family rather than the stated sports ministry purpose. Further questioning of foundation officials and bank representatives continues under the supervision of the Attorney General’s Department.
