-By Sanjaya Dassanayake
(Lanka-e-News -03.Feb.2026, 11.00 PM) The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (February 02) ordered the arrest of Shamindra Rajapaksa, the youngest son of Chamal Rajapaksa, the elder of the Rajapaksa family, as the third suspect in the case of large-scale corruption and commission fraud in the purchase of 10 Air buses for Sri Lankan Airlines.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which resumed investigations under the Malima government into the Airbus deal, one of the most serious corrupt transactions during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term as president, yesterday filed an urgent motion with the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
The motion was filed to inform the court that Shamindra Rajapaksa, the second son of former Speaker and a minister Chamal Rajapaksa, will be named as the third suspect in the case, and to obtain a warrant for his arrest, who is said to be currently living in the United States. Shamindra Rajapaksa was a member of the board of directors of Sri Lankan Airlines at the time of this corrupt transaction.
Fort Magistrate Isuru Netthikumara, who issued the warrant for the arrest of Shamindra Rajapaksa at the request of the CID, ordered the CID to arrest the suspect with the assistance of the Interpol if necessary.
During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second presidential term, i.e., between 2010 and 2015, Priyankara Jayaratne served as the nominal Minister of Civil Aviation. Although Sri Lankan Airlines was under his ministry, it was controlled by the Rajapaksa family.
The airline's board of directors consisted of Nishantha Wickramasinghe, brother of former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Chairman of the airline, Kapila Chandrasena, Director-CEO, President's Counsel Nihal Jayamanne, Shamindra Rajapaksa, Manilal Fernando, Sanath Ukwatte, Susantha Ratnayake, and Lakshmi Sangakkara.
Without the prior approval of the Cabinet, but after obtaining approval later, the board of directors of Sri Lankan Airlines had entered into a contract with the French company Airbus for the purchase of 12 Airbus aircraft for Sri Lankan Airlines worth Rs. 290 billion.
A special board meeting of Sri Lankan Airlines was held at the official residence of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa near Parliament on March 01, 2013. This board meeting was fully sponsored by Shamindra Rajapaksa, one of its directors. At this meeting, it was decided to purchase 13 Airbus aircraft for Sri Lankan Airlines on a lease basis.
Priyankara Jayaratne, who served as the Minister of Civil Aviation during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term, testified before the committee appointed by the Yahapalana government under the chairmanship of Senior Presidential Advocate JC Weliamuna to investigate corruption and fraud at Sri Lankan Airlines. He said that despite being the Minister of Civil Aviation, he never attended any of the board meetings of Sri Lankan Airlines. This shows how the Rajapaksas have maintained their dominance in the airline.
The Weliamuna Commission has questioned former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa about this meeting. He gave a very strange answer and said that he was not aware that such a meeting had taken place at his official residence. Rajeeva Wijesinghe had sarcastically mentioned in an article about Chamal's answer that Chamal's statement was similar to Ravi Karunanayake's statement that he was unaware that Arjun Aloysius had given him a house during the Central Bank bond investigation.
Air Lines CEO Kapila Chandrasena initially paid Rs. 16924.36 million to buy the Air Buses from the Air Bus company. Then, the Airbus company initially promised a commission of $16.4 million to an intermediary in Sri Lanka, of which $2 million was credited to an account of Chandrasena's wife, Priyanka Wijenayake, which was registered in Singapore.
It was no secret that Namal Rajapaksa had approved many state transactions during Mahinda's second term. It is a well-known secret that many ministers had to go through Namal Rajapaksa not only for transactions but even when getting a job in a state institution.
A case was filed in a British Crown Court after it was revealed that Airbus had bribed representatives of airlines in some countries in its transactions with those countries. It was revealed that Airbus had paid $2 million to Biz Solutions Inc., a shell company established in Brunei in 2012. Investigators have found that the money was later transferred to the company’s Singapore account.
In 2020, British court documents revealed that the wife of a Sri Lankan Airlines executive had acted as an agent for the purchase of Airbus aircraft and had agreed to pay a bribe of $16.4 million with Airbus.
Following the revelations, former Sri Lankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Wijenayake were arrested and remanded on February 6, 2020.
Although the CID first investigated this matter in 2016 under the Yahapalana government, the CID informed the Fort Magistrate yesterday in this urgent motion that the Attorney General's instructions on these investigations have been delayed for 10 years.
Whatever charges the CID brings against the Rajapaksa family, the Attorney General's Department's usual delay may delay justice for the people or allow thieves to escape the law.
Rajeeva Jayaweera is an officer who held high positions in several airlines around the world and served as the country manager of Sri Lankan Airlines during the Rajapaksa era. He has written news articles for a certain website revealing the Rajapaksa family's connection to this transaction. Rajeeva's body, which was found under a tree in Independence Square, Colombo 07, around 7.00 am on June 12, 2020, by the Cinnamon Garden police, five months after the Chandrasena couple were arrested,
It was the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The police said in their initial investigations that Rajeeva Jayaweera committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The reason for this was a letter that Rajeeva allegedly wrote to his brother before he died. This letter was a "typed" letter. A short message had been received on his mobile phone by that brother before the day Rajeeva's body was found. It mentioned the PIN of his personal briefcase and a letter inside it.
The police have informed the court, based on that letter, that he had committed suicide. The letter stated that he had purchased a 0.22 calibre ‘micro’ pistol for this purpose. The police have not acted with much interest in this death. It was later reported that there is no important CCTV footage around Independence Square and his house.
The Cinnamon Garden police have provided the court with only the relevant sms evidence and typed letter to convince the court that Rajeeva’s death was not a murder but a suicide. However, can a letter not written in one's own handwriting be taken as evidence of a person's suicide? It is not much of a problem for a murderer who snatched Rajeev's phone to send text messages from it. Wasn't his brother active on the text message he received from 8.30 pm? Only powerful people can make the CCTV footage disappear. It is the responsibility of this government to find out who is behind this murder and punish the murderers.
After the new government came to power and a new round of investigations into the Airbus corruption began, the CID took steps to obtain a statement from Namal Rajapaksa in March 2025. He was questioned about the transfer of commission money received to other accounts. A businessman close to the Rajapaksa family had told the CID that he had facilitated the transfer of money transferred to Namal Rajapaksa from the Airbus deal to other accounts.
Regarding the questioning of Namal Rajapaksa, it was said that it has now become a habit for those with undisclosed assets to blame the Rajapaksa family.
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by (2026-02-03 22:00:56)
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