Former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena has said that a statement he made implicating former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a bribery case involving French plane manufacturers Airbus was made under duress.
On Thursday, officials from the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) told the Colombo Magistrate’s Court that Chandrasena had issued a statement alleging that Rajapaksa received a Rs. 60 million bribe from Airbus as part of a 2013 deal with SriLankan Airlines.
However, shortly after, an affidavit signed by Chandrasena was released to the media by his lawyers, claiming that CIABOC officers had intimidated him into naming Rajapaksa in his statement.
Chandrasena was arrested last week (March 13) by the Bribery Commission for “allegedly accepting bribes while serving as the CEO of SriLankan Airlines and the head of the Procurement Committee for the purchase of Airbus aircraft”.
He was remanded until today (March 19) and when his case was taken up in court, Bribery Commission officials stated that Chandrasena had told them that Rajapaksa received this bribe in three installments.
It was the first time the former President was implicated in this case.
In his nine-point affidavit, Chandrasena claims that the Director General of the CIABOC Ranga Dissanayake had spoken to him in a threatening tone, implying that Chandrasena name Rajapaksa and his son Namal Rajapaksa as being involved in the bribery case.
Chandrasena claimed that he was intimidated and coerced into making these statements by officials of CIABOC, including its Director General Ranga Dissanayake, adding that he felt fearful for his life.
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