Former Civil Aviation Minister Piyankara Jayaratne has been sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment after being found guilty of a corruption charge filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
The sentence was imposed by Colombo High Court Judge Mohamed Mihal following a lengthy trial.
The case relates to a payment of Rs. 330,000 from the accounts of state-owned SriLankan Catering Ltd. to a private catering company in Marawila to provide food for political supporters who participated in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) May Day rally in 2014.
According to the indictment, Jayaratne, who was Civil Aviation Minister at the time, had induced an executive of SriLankan Catering to make the payment for the catering arrangements.
CIABOC had filed the indictment against the former minister before the Colombo High Court over the transaction. (Newswire)