Lawyer Rakhita Rajapaksa, son of former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa, and Horana Samagi Jana Balawegaya Electoral Organiser Charith Abeysinghe have been arrested by officers of the Bribery and Corruption Investigation Commission on charges of having links with organised criminal Nadun Chinthaka Wickramaratne alias ‘Harakkata’.
They are accused of promising to do many things, including preventing the police from killing this organised criminal, and demanding a bribe of Rs. 500 million for this, and then receiving Rs. 120 million as an advance.
Along with these two, the Bribery or Corruption Commission has also arrested Warusha Hennadige, a former director of the Civil Aviation Authority and the Sri Lanka Airlines Company. It is reported that the promises made by this group to an organized criminal, Nadun Chinthaka, include the removal of the suspect’s detention orders and his transfer to a prison other than the Galle Boossa High Security Prison, and the necessary arrangements for his release from investigation and related activities.
In return for these arrangements, the suspects are accused of demanding a bribe of Rs. 500 million from the wife of the above suspect, Madushika Madhuwanthi, in Dubai in 2023, later reducing the amount to Rs. 200 million and demanding an advance of Rs. 120 million.
These three are scheduled to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.