Janaki Siriwardena, a former Executive Officer and Director of the Krrish Group, was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on Thursday over an alleged Rs. 70 million bribe paid to MP Namal Rajapaksa.

The Bribery Commission said she was taken into custody when she arrived at the commission to give a statement, NewsFirst reported. She was later produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, where the case was due to be called, Hiru News reported in the afternoon.

What the payment is alleged to have bought

The Daily Mirror was the only outlet to state what investigators say the money was for. It reported that she was arrested over allegations she provided Rs. 70 million to Rajapaksa in return for assistance in expediting the acquisition of the Transworks Square land in Colombo Fort, owned by the Urban Development Authority, for the Krrish Group.

That detail matters, because it describes the same sum from the opposite direction to the case already before the courts.

The same Rs. 70 million, framed two ways

Rajapaksa is already a defendant in a Colombo High Court case arising from Krrish’s dealings. The Attorney General’s indictment, filed in February 2025, alleges he committed criminal breach of trust by obtaining Rs. 70 million from the India-based company on the pretext of promoting rugby in Sri Lanka, and then misusing the funds. That trial was fixed to begin on July 7.

The figure, the company and the recipient are the same. The characterisation is not: the indictment treats the money as funds obtained under a false pretext and misspent, while Thursday’s arrest treats it as a bribe paid for a land transaction. None of the three reports said whether CIABOC’s case will be filed as a separate matter or folded into the existing proceedings.

CIABOC’s inquiry into the Krrish transaction has been running alongside the court case for months. Avant-Garde Maritime Services chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi gave a statement to the commission over the same project in August. No allegation against him has been made public.

Context

The arrest lands while Rajapaksa is already in custody in an unrelated matter. His bail application in the SriLankan Airlines Airbus money laundering case was refused on Tuesday and his remand extended to September 30.

A note on sourcing: Hiru gives the surname as “Siriwardhana” where NewsFirst and the Daily Mirror give “Siriwardena”. No outlet reported whether she has legal representation, entered any plea, or applied for bail.

Sources