Sri Lanka arrests Namal Rajapaksa over $800,000 SriLankan Airlines bribe claim

September 11, 2026 at 05:02 PM3 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Sri Lankan investigators arrested Namal Rajapaksa on September 4 over allegations he received 100 million rupees in bribes tied to a 2012-13 SriLankan Airlines aircraft deal. The arrest marks the first time a member of the Rajapaksa family has been detained in the long-running corruption probe. The UNP joined the SLPP in condemning the arrest, signaling political pressure on the NPP government's anti-corruption drive.

Key Facts

Namal Rajapaksa was arrested on September 4 over allegations he received 100 million Sri Lankan rupees (about $800,000 at 2014-15 exchange rates) in bribes.
The bribe is linked to an aircraft procurement deal involving SriLankan Airlines in 2012-13.
The UNP, which led the 2015-19 government, joined the SLPP in condemning the arrest.
In 2020, Airbus agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to settle international bribery investigations that exposed suspicious payments linked to SriLankan Airlines.
CIABOC told the court that 1.454 million euros ($1.69 million) in bribe money was deposited into a Singapore account of Biz Solutions Inc., controlled by former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena's wife.

The Arrest

Sri Lankan investigators arrested Namal Rajapaksa on September 4 over allegations that he received 100 million Sri Lankan rupees (about $800,000 per 2014-15 exchange rates) in bribes linked to an aircraft procurement deal involving SriLankan Airlines in 2012-13. The arrest shows that investigators have moved beyond airline officials and business intermediaries to a member of Sri Lanka's most powerful political family. The United National Party (UNP), which led the 2015-19 Yahapalanaya government under which several investigations against Rajapaksa began, joined the Rajapaksa family-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in condemning his arrest. Most of the political opposition and their allies in the media and religious establishments have come out in support of the Rajapaksas, and enormous resources are being spent to discredit the arrest of Namal.

Money Trail

In 2020, Airbus agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to settle international bribery investigations. As part of the investigations, foreign officials traced suspicious payments linked to SriLankan Airlines' aircraft purchases, and a British court made details of the transactions public. In response, the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government arrested former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife, but the investigation went no further; the two were released on bail, and no action was taken to determine whether Chandrasena and others worked with politicians. Even in 2020, authorities knew that part of the money had been sent to a company connected to businessman Nimal Perera, who was closely associated with the Rajapaksas, yet neither the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration (2019-2022) nor the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration (2022-2024) investigated what Perera did with the money. That investigation was only initiated after the NPP came into power.

CIABOC Findings

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) told the court that 1.454 million euros (or $1.69 million as per the September 2026 exchange rate) in bribe money was deposited into a Standard Chartered Bank account in Singapore maintained by Biz Solutions Inc., a company registered in Brunei and controlled by Chandrasena's wife. Of that amount, $800,000 was allegedly transferred to an Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) account in Singapore maintained by Sabre Vision Holdings Ltd., a company belonging to Perera.