Astrologer Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena appeared before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on Thursday morning to record a statement in an investigation concerning Siriliya Saviya, the Daily Mirror and Hiru News reported.
Hiru News said he attended in response to a summons issued by the Commission, and that he had also served as a director of the National Savings Bank. The Daily Mirror describes him as a former royal astrologer, without saying to whom.
Neither report says he has been arrested, named a suspect or charged.
A name that already appears in a CIABOC file
Neither outlet explains what Siriliya Saviya is, and that is the gap at the centre of both reports.
A closely named matter is already on the Commission’s books. In April, CIABOC demanded an explanation from former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa over how a house on Torrington Avenue, Colombo, had been acquired — a request the Commission tied to an investigation involving what it called the “Siriliya account.”
CIABOC said at the time it suspected the property may have been acquired through unlawful means, suspended the transfer of its ownership pending a satisfactory explanation, and warned it would seek a court order restraining the property if none was forthcoming.
The names overlap, and both matters sit with the same Commission. But neither of Thursday’s reports mentions the Torrington Avenue inquiry, and no outlet has stated that the two are the same investigation. That connection is not established here — it is flagged because the reporting leaves it open.
Not reported
Neither outlet says what Siriliya Saviya is — a company, a trust, a charity or a fund — who runs it, or what the Commission suspects. Neither says what Abeygunawardena’s connection to it is, why he was summoned, when he served on the National Savings Bank board or whether his directorship is relevant to the inquiry.
Neither says how long the investigation has been running, whether others have been summoned, or whether he is expected to return. Neither carries a comment from him.
A separate matter, filed together
The Daily Mirror published this story in the same article as the appearance of former Air Force commander Roshan Goonetileke before the FCID over the MiG aircraft transaction, under one headline covering both.
The two are unrelated — different people, different investigating bodies and different subject matter. Hiru News filed them separately.
