CIABOC arrests Uva development officer over Rs. 8.1 million phosphate export bribe

Officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) have arrested a Development Officer attached to the Uva Provincial Council over an alleged Rs. 8.1 million bribery transaction linked to the export of phosphate.

The suspect, who previously served as private secretary to former State Minister of Primary Industries Chamara Sampath Dassanayake, was arrested on Monday (21) at about 4.55 p.m., the Daily Mirror reported.

The allegation

CIABOC alleges the officer solicited and accepted Rs. 8.1 million in exchange for facilitating the export of phosphate through Lanka Phosphate Limited for three selected companies, outside standard regulatory procedures.

According to the commission, the suspect had agreed to arrange unauthorised phosphate exports exclusively for those three companies and to help them obtain the necessary export licences. The arrest followed a CIABOC operation mounted in connection with the alleged transaction.

Update: how the case began, and the pricing allegation

NewsFirst reported further detail after this article was first published.

CIABOC told the Badulla Magistrate’s Court that the investigation was opened after an anonymous complaint received in 2023, and that the suspect faces charges of committing corruption. The conduct is placed in 2023, when the suspect is alleged to have granted approval for the three companies to export phosphate through Lanka Phosphate Limited.

NewsFirst adds the commercial core of the allegation, which the earlier report did not carry: the transactions not only bypassed standard procurement procedure but sold the resource at local market rates without regard to higher global market prices — that is, the alleged loss to the state runs beyond the bribe itself to the price the phosphate fetched.

NewsFirst describes the suspect as a former secretary to Dassanayake, who it refers to as a sitting Member of Parliament.

Context

Lanka Phosphate Limited is the state-owned company that mines and processes rock phosphate from the Eppawala deposit in Anuradhapura District, the country’s only commercially worked phosphate reserve. Its output is directed primarily at domestic fertiliser supply, and exports are subject to regulatory approval.

The suspect holds a provincial council post and is no longer in the ministerial secretariat role referred to in coverage of the arrest; the two positions are distinct. No charges have yet been filed in court, and CIABOC has not named the three companies said to have benefited.