Kapila Chandrasena remanded

2026-03-13 - 03:36

The Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (March 12) ordered that former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SriLankan Airlines – Kapila Chandrasena, be remanded until March 19. Chandrasena was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) when he appeared before the commission yesterday to provide a statement. He was subsequently taken into custody and produced before the court. The investigation relates to an alleged corrupt transaction during 2012–2013, when SriLankan Airlines was preparing to purchase 10 aircraft from Airbus. The probe is being conducted jointly with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). During that period, a proposal had been made to retire 13 SriLankan Airlines aircraft and replace them with 14 new aircraft. The airline later signed an agreement with Airbus company France for 06 A330-300 aircraft and 04 A350-900 aircraft, scheduled for delivery between 2014 and 2023. Details of the alleged fraud first emerged in January 2020 following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), UK. Investigations revealed that Airbus had allegedly promised a bribe of USD 16.84 million in connection with the aircraft purchase deal. It was further disclosed that USD 02 million from this amount had been transferred to a company account in Brunei owned by Chandrasena’s wife. According to investigators, funds received by that company were subsequently transferred via a Singapore bank account to Chandrasena’s personal account in Australia on several occasions. Further inquiries have also revealed that money had been transferred from Singapore to 02 bank accounts in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Shamindra Rajapaksa, the son of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, has been named as the third suspect in the case after investigations found that USD 160,000 had been credited to a bank account belonging to him in 2013. Related News: Kapila Chandrasena arrested