Namal Rajapaksa was already in remand custody over an alleged Rs 100 million Airbus-linked bribe. Now a second proceeding, this time under money-laundering laws, has resulted in another remand order until September 23. Both arise from the controversial SriLankan Airlines Airbus procurement, but they are separate legal proceedings. The distinction matters. So does the evidence.
Sri Lanka’s long-running Airbus affair has taken another significant turn. SLPP Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa was ordered by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to remain in remand custody until September 23 after being produced as a suspect in a money-laundering investigation connected with alleged financial irregularities surrounding SriLankan Airlines’ aircraft procurement. The court is due to deliver its decision on his bail application on the same date.
What makes the development particularly important is that Rajapaksa was already in remand custody in a separate proceeding arising from the Airbus transaction.
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On September 4, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption arrested Rajapaksa following questioning over allegations that he had received Rs 100 million connected with the aircraft deal. The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court subsequently remanded him until September 18.
The second track is being pursued by the Criminal Investigation Department under money-laundering provisions. Rajapaksa was named as a suspect following instructions from the Attorney General, and Wednesday’s proceedings were before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court rather than the court handling the CIABOC matter.
That distinction is important. It would be misleading simply to describe this as another remand order in the same case.
The CIABOC proceeding concerns an allegation that Rajapaksa received Rs 100 million in bribes connected to the Airbus procurement. According to submissions reported from that proceeding, investigators allege that EUR 1.454 million was paid by Airbus into a Singapore account associated with Biz Solutions Inc., and that US$800,000 was subsequently transferred to an account belonging to Sabre Vision Holdings Ltd. Investigators allege that the equivalent of part of those funds was later handed to Rajapaksa in Sri Lankan rupees. Rajapaksa’s lawyers have challenged the allegations and the reliability of evidence being relied upon.
The CID investigation, meanwhile, concerns alleged money laundering and financial irregularities surrounding the same aircraft procurement. In Wednesday’s proceedings it was submitted that Rajapaksa had been named as the fourth suspect in the case already before the Fort Magistrate’s Court involving former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife.
So there are now two legal tracks emerging from substantially the same Airbus saga: one centred on alleged bribery and the other on alleged money laundering.
If the State possesses evidence that criminal offences were committed, it has both the power and the responsibility to investigate and prosecute them. Political office, family name and former power cannot provide immunity from the ordinary operation of the law. But an accused person remains an accused person until guilt is established through the judicial process.
The Airbus affair itself is considerably larger than Namal Rajapaksa. It stretches back to SriLankan Airlines’ aircraft procurement programme and allegations surrounding payments made through overseas entities and bank accounts. The investigation has also acquired an international dimension.
The prosecution will eventually have to do considerably more than make allegations. It must prove the offences charged and establish the necessary links to the accused according to law. The defence, equally, will have the opportunity to test those links.
For the moment, Namal Rajapaksa finds himself in an unusual position. One investigation resulted in his remand until September 18. A separate money-laundering proceeding has now resulted in an order keeping him in remand until September 23, when the Fort Magistrate is expected to rule on bail in that matter.
Sri Lanka has spent years demanding accountability for alleged corruption involving public money and major state transactions. If this case is to become an example of that accountability, it will have to be pursued rigorously, transparently and without political theatre. Because the real test is not whether a Rajapaksa can be arrested. It is whether the evidence can withstand a courtroom.
