Ex-SriLankan Airlines CEO Appears Before CIABOC

COLOMBO (News 1st); Former Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, Kapila Chandrasena, has appeared before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to provide a statement.

The appearance is linked to an allegedly corrupt transaction involving the planned purchase of ten Airbus aircraft for SriLankan Airlines in 2012 and 2013.

Investigations into the transaction are being carried out jointly with the Criminal Investigation Department.

During the 2012-2013 period, a proposal was presented to retire 13 aircraft from the SriLankan Airlines fleet and replace them with 14 new aircraft. 

As part of that plan, SriLankan Airlines signed an agreement with French manufacturer Airbus to purchase six A330 aircraft and four A350 aircraft.

Information regarding serious fraud linked to the deal surfaced in January 2020, following an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. 

The inquiry revealed that Airbus had agreed to pay a bribe of USD 16.84 million in connection with the purchase of ten aircraft.

Investigations further uncovered that USD 2 million of this amount had been credited to an account belonging to a Brunei‑based company owned by Chandrasena’s wife. 

According to the findings, funds received by this company had later been transferred on several occasions from a Singapore account to Chandrasena’s personal account in Australia.

It was also revealed that money had been transferred from Singapore to two bank accounts in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Shameendra Rajapaksa, son of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, has been named the third suspect in the case.

This follows the discovery that USD 160,000 had been credited to his bank account in 2013.