A former Director General of the Mahaweli Authority was arrested on Tuesday (Dec. 9) by officials from the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.
The arrest relates to an incident involving compensation funds for damage caused to a building on Mahaweli Authority land during public unrest on May 9, 2022.
Investigators allege that Bandara, along with officials from the Mahaweli Authority’s Walawa Zone, misused compensation processes to benefit former minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa—then State Minister of Irrigation—and his associate named Manoj Waharalal Ekanayake.
A license was allegedly prepared under Ekanayake’s name to facilitate access to compensation for damage to the property, the Bribery Commission said in a statement.
The suspect, Keerthi Bandara, is accused of influencing officials to support this transaction and is being charged under Sections 111, 133, and 135 of the Bribery Act No. 9 of 2023, read with Section 5(1) of the Offenses Against Public Property Act No. 12 of 1992.
Bandara is to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court. (Newswire)