The Colombo High Court will deliver its order on October 8 on preliminary objections raised by the defence in the corruption case against former State Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa and two others, Hiru News reported on Monday.
High Court Judge Ravindra Premaratne fixed the date after hearing submissions from both sides when the case was taken up on Monday (28). Newswire reported the same ruling date.
Who appeared
Shasheendra Rajapaksa, former Director of the Office for Reparations Sepalika Saman Kumari, and former Director General of the Mahaweli Authority Keerthi Bandara Kotagama appeared in court. All three remain out on bail.
Attorneys Asthika Devendra and Chaminda Athukorala, appearing alongside a President’s Counsel for the accused, raised the preliminary objections to the charges filed by the Bribery Commission. Assistant Director General Subhashini Siriwardena made counter-submissions for the prosecution.
The allegation
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) indicted the three on corruption and aiding-and-abetting charges. Prosecutors allege they used official power to influence officers at the Office for Reparations to release Rs. 8.85 million in compensation for an unlawfully constructed building on Mahaweli-owned land at Kiribbanwewa, Sewanagala, for damage sustained during the unrest of May 9, 2022 — despite the claim having been rejected previously.
How the case reached this point
CIABOC filed the indictment in June, listing 10 charges, 30 witnesses and 38 documents. An earlier official decision had refused compensation for the buildings, which stood on Mahaweli Authority land and were unlawfully put up; prosecutors say the accused then pressed reparations officials to authorise the payments anyway.
The investigation had been running since 2025, when a former Mahaweli Authority Director General and a previous reparations official were arrested over the same matter.
A ruling against the defence on October 8 would clear the way for the trial proper to begin. The case is separate from the SriLankan Airlines Airbus bribery investigation in which Shasheendra Rajapaksa is also named.
