The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has ordered the forfeiture of Rs. 40 million in bail posted by former Sri Lanka cricket captain Aravinda de Silva and his wife on behalf of a suspect in the Airbus bribery investigation who left the country and has not returned.

Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena made the order on Tuesday in respect of the two bail bonds of Rs. 20 million each that de Silva and his wife had furnished for Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, the widow of former SriLankan Airlines chief executive Kapila Chandrasena, NewsFirst reported.

A lawyer for the sureties told the court that Rs. 20 million would be paid to court that day. The magistrate permitted that payment and gave the sureties until 14 October to settle the remaining Rs. 20 million, Newswire reported.

De Silva and his wife were present in open court for the proceedings.

The plea the magistrate rejected

The sureties asked the court for relief, submitting that Wijenayake was afraid to return to Sri Lanka after her husband’s death by suicide and feared for her own safety, and that she was now beyond their control.

The magistrate refused. He noted that Wijenayake had failed to appear before the court and that a warrant had been issued for her before her husband died — so the fear the sureties described could not explain the original default.

The court was told she travelled overseas after being granted bail. Warrants against her remain in force, and steps have been taken to refer the warrant to Interpol.

An international warrant has also been issued for Shamindra Rajapaksa, son of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and the third suspect in the case.

How the sureties got here

De Silva’s involvement is as a bailsman, not a suspect. He and his wife stood surety when Wijenayake was released on bail in the case concerning alleged irregularities in SriLankan Airlines’ aircraft procurement.

On 16 September the same magistrate issued warrants for the couple’s own arrest when they failed to appear as bailsmen. Those warrants were recalled the next day after President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty submitted by motion that they had been at the funeral of de Silva’s mother, Rani, whose final rites fell on the day the case was called.

Chandrasena himself was found dead in May at de Silva’s residence, a death later the subject of a protracted magisterial inquest.

Two points of difference between the accounts

NewsFirst gives the deadline for the second Rs. 20 million as 17 October; Newswire gives 14 October. We use 14 October, which Newswire and other accounts of the sitting agree on.

NewsFirst also names de Silva’s wife as “Priyangi Niyomali Wijenayake” — carrying the suspect’s middle name across to the surety. Earlier reporting on this case, including the Daily Mirror and Daily FT, names her Priyangi Anushka Wijenayake. The two women share a surname; they are not the same person.

Ada Derana also reported the order, but the site remains unreachable from our infrastructure.