Former minister Keheliya Rambukwella was released on bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday evening, hours after he was arrested by the Bribery Commission. Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama granted bail in two separate corruption cases and ordered a ban on foreign travel.
The Sandagala case
The first case concerns an allegation that Rambukwella abused his office to shield his son from an investigation into the theft of a Sandagala — an ancient carved moonstone — from an archaeological site at Kundasale in the Kandy district. NewsFirst named the site as Udamaluwa on Tuesday evening, having earlier the same day placed the theft at the Warapitiya Uduwalawa site, associated with the palace of King Sri Veera Parakrama Narendrasinghe. Ada Derana did not name the site.
Presenting facts in court, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption alleged that Ramith Rambukwella, together with several associates of the former minister, had taken the artefact, and that the Kandy Division Criminal Investigation Unit and the Criminal Investigation Department subsequently investigated.
CIABOC told court that in 2022 Rambukwella summoned the then Kandy Senior Superintendent of Police and the officers-in-charge of the Kandy Criminal Investigation Unit and the Pallekele Police Station to his official residence and questioned them about the inquiry. He then telephoned the then CID Deputy Inspector General, Prasad Ranasinghe, who allegedly told him his son would face no consequences.
No statement was ever recorded from Ramith Rambukwella, the Commission said, and although officers received information that the Sandagala was at the former minister’s Kandy residence, they were not permitted to search it. CIABOC further alleged that Rambukwella asked another suspect, Prasad Sanjeewa, whether the matter could be closed by producing two or three individuals, offering to meet the costs. Suspects were later produced and the case ended with fines of Rs. 1,500 each.
Prosecutors sought remand. Attorney-at-Law Kanchana Ratwatte, appearing for Rambukwella, told court his client already faced 13 cases and that he and his family had appeared before CIABOC on 81 occasions. The court released him on two bail bonds of Rs. 1 million each and ordered him to surrender his passport.
The Rupavahini cadre case
In a second complaint, CIABOC alleged that while serving as Minister of Mass Media, Rambukwella recruited six employees to the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation beyond its approved cadre and attached them to his personal staff after his own staff quota was full. NewsFirst reported the alleged loss to the state broadcaster at Rs. 14.3 million; Hiru News gave the figure as Rs. 14 million.
Bail in that case was set at two bonds of Rs. 5 million each.
Ada Derana described the bonds in both cases as surety bail, while NewsFirst and Hiru News reported them as personal bail bonds. Daily Mirror reported the release but treated the matter as a single corruption case.
