In a major shift, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has handed back the authority of protecting foreign merchant ships in Sri Lankan waters to the Navy—reviving a role once controversially given to Avant Garde under Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The move is set to generate fresh revenue for the state while closing the chapter on one of Sri Lanka’s most notorious private maritime security deals.
The Sri Lanka Navy has officially been given the authority to provide maritime security services to foreign private security companies safeguarding merchant vessels entering Sri Lankan waters, defense sources confirmed.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in his capacity as Minister of Defense, issued a gazette notification this week detailing the Navy’s functions and responsibilities under its maritime services project. The notification followed Cabinet approval of a proposal presented by the President on July 7.
Despite the International Maritime Organization removing the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Somali Sea from its list of high-risk zones in January 2023, commercial ships continue to rely on armed security services. Under the new arrangement, the Navy will oversee operational, administrative, and financial activities, including the storage of firearms, ammunition, and other equipment belonging to foreign private maritime security companies.
Importantly, this project allows the Navy to collect revenue from merchant vessels representing foreign security providers while passing through Sri Lankan waters. Navy Spokesperson Commander Buddhika Sampath said the force, as a professional navy, would provide services during the process of landing and departing ships.
The Navy previously managed maritime security operations until 2012, when Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd was controversially licensed to provide armed protection for merchant vessels. Avant Garde earned millions in revenue and operated a floating maritime security depot, but the deal was later mired in scandal.
The Bribery Commission filed a case alleging that the government lost Rs. 11.4 billion due to the license issued to Avant Garde. The Attorney General indicted seven defendants, including company chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi, Rakna Lanka Chairman Victor Samaraweera, and MV Avant Garde’s Ukrainian captain Gennady Gavrilov, after 813 firearms and 200,935 live ammunition were discovered on the company’s floating arsenal.
However, in 2021, Senadhipathi and six others were acquitted by the Colombo High Court after prosecutors failed to prove that the license signed off by then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was fraudulent.
With the Navy now reclaiming its role, the government signals a return to state-controlled maritime security, seeking both accountability and financial stability in an industry long shadowed by corruption and controversy.
