Pradeep Kariyawasam, former Chairman of the National Savings Bank and husband of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), the Daily Mirror and Hiru News reported on Wednesday.

Hiru News reported that the arrest was made in connection with the Commission’s ongoing investigation into the “Siriliya Saviya” account linked to former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. The Daily Mirror described it more generally, saying CIABOC arrested him in connection with investigations into allegations involving Rajapaksa.

The same inquiry that produced Wednesday’s other arrest

Kariyawasam was taken into custody on the same day that CIABOC arrested Shiranthi Rajapaksa at the Kirulapone residence where former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is staying. The Commission said that arrest concerned allegations that she obtained Rs. 10 million from a state bank and committed offences under the Public Property Act.

Neither outlet reporting Wednesday’s arrests named that bank. The reporting on this arrest identifies it.

In September, when the subject of an earlier Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) summons to Rajapaksa was disclosed, NewsFirst reported that the Rs. 10 million had been obtained from a state-owned bank and deposited into a Siriliya Saviya Foundation account to buy a CT scanner for the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children. Investigators had not established that any scanner was bought with the money; the equipment eventually presented to the hospital was a PET scanner donated by China.

That report also stated that the FCID had already recorded a statement from Pradeep Kariyawasam, who chaired the state bank said to have provided the Rs. 10 million. Taken with Wednesday’s reporting that Kariyawasam chaired the National Savings Bank, the bank in question is the NSB.

What this establishes, and what it does not

Two things follow from the day’s filings that the individual reports do not state on their own.

The Rs. 10 million CIABOC cites and the Rs. 10 million in the FCID’s CT scanner inquiry are the same sum — the figure, the state-bank origin and the Siriliya Saviya destination all match. Our earlier report on Rajapaksa’s arrest described the CIABOC matter as distinct from the FCID’s; that was wrong, and it has been corrected.

What does not follow is that the two agencies are running one investigation. CIABOC and the FCID are separate bodies and both are active on the same money. No filing explains how their inquiries are divided, or whether one has taken over from the other.

Kariyawasam was not previously reported as a suspect. In September he had given a statement to the FCID as a witness; he has now been arrested by a different body.

Other names in the file

The Commission’s Siriliya Saviya inquiry has drawn in people connected to the bank before. In September, astrologer Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena — described by Hiru News as a former director of the National Savings Bank — recorded a statement at CIABOC in the same matter. He was not reported as having been arrested or named a suspect.

Not reported

No filing says where or when Kariyawasam will be produced, which court will take him up, or whether the Commission will seek a remand order. Neither outlet states what role he is alleged to have played in the transaction, whether he is accused of authorising the payment, or what offences are alleged against him.

No response has been reported from Kariyawasam, from counsel appearing for him, or from the National Savings Bank. There is no indication whether further arrests are expected, or whether the FCID’s parallel inquiry continues.

Ada Derana also filed on the arrest, but its site has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for sixteen consecutive days and that report could not be retrieved.

Sources: Hiru News, Daily Mirror.