By Roy Denish
Court filings allege that millions obtained through an extortion and bribery scheme financed luxury vehicles, an upscale home, and extravagant lifestyles, as investigators probe alleged political influence in the Harak Kata case.
Anti-graft investigators have uncovered a multi-million rupee extortion and bribery racket involving the son of a former justice minister, who allegedly promised to leverage high-level political influence to secure the safety and release of a notorious detained drug kingpin.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) informed a Colombo court that attorney-at-law Rakhitha Rajapaksa—the son of former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe—alongside suspects Charith Abeysinghe and Aruna Sri Chathuranga Varushahennadi, obtained more than 120 million Sri Lankan rupees from Maheshika Madhuwanthi, the wife of alleged underworld figure Nadun Chinthaka, widely known as “Harak Kata.” Investigators revealed that the suspects subsequently used the illicit funds to finance lavish lifestyles, purchasing a luxury Range Rover Freelander SUV, a black BMW 7 Series sedan, and constructing a luxury home in Kahathuduwa.
According to court submissions, the suspects allegedly preyed on Madhuwanthi’s fears by warning her that her husband could face the same fate as Makandure Madush, an organised crime leader who was killed while in police custody. To persuade her to hand over the money, the suspects claimed they possessed the necessary political backing to manipulate the legal system, specifically citing influence over the Attorney General’s Department, senior ministry officials, and top police authorities.
The prosecution’s main witness revealed that the suspects initially demanded 300 million rupees before reducing the sum to an advance of 120 million rupees. This money was purportedly earmarked for distribution among the country’s bureaucratic elite, including 50 million rupees for a former Inspector General of Police to guarantee Harak Kata’s safety, another 50 million rupees to be channeled through a prominent politician to the Presidential Secretary to revoke a detention order, and an additional 50 million rupees to bribe prison officials into transferring the drug lord out of the maximum-security Boossa Prison. Court records indicate that Rajapaksa directly assured the kingpin’s wife that his father would handle matters on the ministerial side while he managed the Attorney General’s department.
The transaction reportedly took place in Dubai, where Madhuwanthi handed over the equivalent of 120 million rupees in UAE dirhams. The suspects then allegedly smuggled the funds back to Sri Lanka using the informal Undiyal financial network, a move corroborated by Department of Immigration and Emigration records showing the suspects traveling to Dubai together in late March 2023.
Despite the massive payout, the suspects failed to deliver on any of their promises, and Harak Kata remained in high-security detention. When Madhuwanthi repeatedly demanded a refund, Abeysinghe allegedly claimed that the majority of the cash had already been spent by Rajapaksa and was unrecoverable, though 20 million rupees was eventually returned through an associate. The high-profile case has cast a harsh spotlight on the intersection of deep-rooted narcotics networks and alleged systemic corruption within Sri Lanka’s political and legal establishments, with court proceedings currently ongoing.
