By Roy Denish.
Namal Rajapaksa Airbus probe deepens as prosecutors cite Airbus emails and evidence linked to an alleged Rs 100mn payment.
Europe’s Airbus provided material evidence to Sri Lankan investigators showing that Hambantota MP Namal Rajapaksa, son of then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, communicated directly with Airbus during the 2013 procurement of 10 aircraft for SriLankan Airlines, state prosecutors claim.
Corroborating documentation provided by Police includes an email from Airbus dated March 23, 2013, indicating that the “President’s son” undertook to present the company’s case on the proposed sale of aircraft to Cabinet “through the President”. Airbus representatives visited Sri Lanka and gave statements in support of the local investigation.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court also heard from prosecutors and Police this month that then Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne presented a Cabinet paper on March 27, 2013, requesting approval for SriLankan Airlines to purchase the 10-strong fleet of Airbus aircraft.
On April 13 of the same year, President Rajapaksa, in his capacity as Finance Minister, submitted observations to Cabinet stating that SriLankan did not need approval from the Cabinet of Ministers for the purchases, as it was registered under the Companies Act and had an independent Board of Directors capable of making decisions concerning its dealings.
Namal Rajapaksa has been held in remand since September 4, having been arrested last week in relation to an investigation by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) into an alleged Rs 100mn bribe linked to the SriLankan Airlines aircraft procurement.
Court was informed that MP Rajapaksa met with Airbus delegations that travelled to Sri Lanka to discuss the business deal and that, when Airbus offered to establish a training centre in Sri Lanka — as was its practice when securing such a large aircraft order — he requested that it be established in Hambantota, which was his electorate. This preference was also evidenced in emails.
Separately, Lankan businessman Nimal Perera provided an affidavit to the court in which he states that he has no link to Airbus or SriLankan Airlines. However, his bank account, opened in Singapore under the company name Sabre Vision, of which Perera is the sole beneficiary, received two direct remittances of US$400,000 each, totalling US$800,000, from another Singapore account belonging to a company named Biz Solutions in November and December 2014.
Airbus had paid a total of €1,454,651.24 to the Biz Solutions account on December 27, 2013, as a “bribe”, which UK Serious Fraud Office (UK SFO) records describe as a single payment representing two US$1mn invoices.
According to CIABOC, Biz Solutions Inc. was registered in Brunei in the name of Priyanka Neomali Wijenayake, wife of Kapila Chandrasena, the then CEO of SriLankan Airlines, who is now deceased, allegedly by suicide. The company had a Standard Chartered Bank account in Singapore that received the Airbus funds.
Mr Perera states in his affidavit that Namal Rajapaksa had requested from him a foreign bank account number to receive money from a foreign consultancy, at which point he provided the Sabre Vision account. Once the money was received by the Sabre Vision account, Mr Perera withdrew it and paid Rs 100mn to Mr Rajapaksa in cash, the affidavit states.
Mr Rajapaksa maintains that he did not receive this payment and that there is no physical or scientific evidence corroborating the alleged cash handover. His lawyers also questioned the credibility of Mr Perera and his statements.
The affidavit states that when controversy broke out regarding the Airbus bribes, Mr Perera asked Namal what it was about, and Mr Rajapaksa reportedly told Mr Perera to seek instructions from his lawyer, Sampath Mendis, PC, who advised Nimal Perera to say that the money received in the Sabre Vision account was income from a business deal.
Mr Perera also sought Mr Mendis’s counsel when he was initially summoned by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division to provide a statement, the affidavit states.
The case, designated Chief Magistrate’s Court No. (1) 73294/1/26, comes up again on September 18 before Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama.
The prosecution team is led by Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara, with State Counsels Sajith Bandara and Maheen de Silva, and Assistant Director General of CIABOC Thanuja Bandara, while the CIABOC investigation team comprises ASP Indika Dharmadasa and IP Dushyantha.
Sampath Mendis, PC, Shavindra Fernando, PC, and W. Dayaratne, PC, appeared for Namal Rajapaksa. Court was informed that more than 50 lawyers were representing Mr Rajapaksa, but that Mr Mendis, as lead counsel, would make submissions.
According to court filings by CIABOC, €168,400 went from Biz Solutions to a company named SL Agro, whose directors are Rupasinghe Arachchige Pradeep Chaminda Janaka Rupasinghe and his brother, Rupasinghe Arachchige Danushka Perera Rupasinghe.
Court documents show that, from SL Agro, Rs 6mn was paid directly to Shameendra Rajapaksa, a son of then Speaker of Parliament and Hambantota MP Chamal Rajapaksa, who was a SriLankan Airlines Board member at the time and a Private Secretary to the Minister of Finance and Planning, President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Another Rs 18mn was paid to a company named Sadisi Media, which CIABOC claims was owned by Shameendra Rajapaksa.
The late Kapila Chandrasena also received payments from Biz Solutions into his personal accounts, Police have said. Ms Wijenayake is currently in Australia, while Shameendra Rajapaksa is in the US.
Meanwhile, Nimal Perera, who is an Australian resident, has informed the authorities of a threat to his life, including from underworld contract killers. For this reason, his evidence was recorded in Australia by joint CID and CIABOC investigators who travelled there.
The local probe is part of the international Airbus bribery scandal, under which SriLankan Airlines in 2013 entered into an arrangement with Airbus for a major wide-body fleet expansion that included six Airbus A330-300s, four Airbus A350-900s, and a commitment to lease another four A350-900s.
However, the four purchased A350s were never delivered, and the agreement was subsequently terminated.
The UK SFO investigated Airbus and concluded that the company had used intermediaries and corrupt payments in connection with aircraft sales in several countries, including Sri Lanka.
Airbus entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the SFO in January 2020, while France and the US reached parallel settlements.
The UK-approved Statement of Facts described a US$2mn Sri Lanka bribery arrangement involving payments to Lankan decision-makers or persons connected with decision-makers through an intermediary, Biz Solutions. It identified SriLankan’s senior management and the intermediary arrangements as part of the chain being investigated.
The SFO Statement of Facts predates the current CIABOC allegation against Namal Rajapaksa and does not establish that he received the money.
Under the terms of its DPA, Airbus is obligated to cooperate fully with the SFO, as well as with investigations by foreign or domestic law enforcement and regulatory authorities involving current or former directors, officers, employees, agents, consultants, third parties, and other parties connected to the conduct.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Department on Friday advised the CID to name Namal Rajapaksa as a suspect in case B14363/19, being heard in the Fort Magistrate’s Court in relation to the SriLankan Airlines bribes.
The CID first filed this B Report in 2019 and, in February 2020, told the Court there were reasonable grounds to name former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Neomali Wijenayake, as suspects.
Shameendra Rajapaksa was subsequently named the third suspect in February 2026, prompting the Fort Magistrate to order his arrest.
The CID officers conducting this investigation, which concerns alleged money laundering, are DIG Pavithra Dayaratne and ASP Mahinda Abeysundara.
The Fort Magistrate’s Court case is one of the primary proceedings concerning the Airbus procurement and bribery allegations, with the CID and CIABOC, which is investigating alleged bribery, having now signed a memorandum of understanding under the Anti-Corruption Act to share information relating to the case.
Credit: The Sunday Times (Reporting by Namini Wijedasa)
