(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayaka surrendered to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) today.
Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera had earlier directed the CID to arrest them and produce them in court.
After considering Investigative material submitted by the CID the AG directed the Director of the CID to obtain an arrest warrant from court and arrest and produce Chandrasena and his wife as suspects on charges of money laundering in the SriLankan Airlines – Airbus deal.
The Colombo Fort Magistrate issued the warrant after the CID submitted a request to court.
The AG had also instructed the CID to forward extracts on the investigations to the Bribery Commission.
A corrupt deal involving aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Sri Lanka was exposed last week.
Airbus reached a record 3.6 Billion Euro settlement with US, UK and French authorities following a 4 year investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.
The statement of facts issued on 31 January 2020 as part of the Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached between Airbus and the prosecuting authorities, indicates that Airbus had agreed to pay out a sum of 16.84 Million US dollars to a company registered in Brunei under the wife of an executive at SriLankan Airlines. Furthermore, the statement reads that Airbus had paid out a sum of 2 Million US dollars of the agreed amount to the company.
“Between 1 July 2011 and 1 June 2015 Airbus SE failed to prevent persons associated with Airbus SE from bribing others concerned with the purchase of aircraft by SriLankan Airlines from Airbus, namely directors and/or employees of SriLankan Airlines, where the said bribery was intended to obtain or retain business or advantage in the conduct of business for Airbus SE,” the statement of facts noted.
