Badulla District Member of Parliament Chamara Sampath Dassanayake was scheduled to appear before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption at 9 a.m. on Friday to give a statement, Hiru News reported.

He is appearing following prior notification issued to him by the commission, which asked to question him and record a statement in connection with an investigation it is conducting, Bribery Commission sources told Hiru.

Which investigation has not been stated

Hiru’s filing does not identify the investigation, and this desk is not able to establish it. CIABOC has more than one live matter in which Dassanayake’s name appears, and they are distinct.

The commission’s plaint over the Uva Provincial Council fixed deposits remains open. That case alleges that, during his tenure as Chief Minister of the Uva Provincial Council, Dassanayake caused a loss of more than Rs. 17.3 million to the government by prematurely withdrawing provincial council fixed deposits. When the Colombo Magistrate’s Court took it up in June, CIABOC told the court its investigation was still ongoing and the case was recalled for 3 November.

Separately, CIABOC arrested a Development Officer attached to the Uva Provincial Council in September over an alleged Rs. 8.1 million bribe connected to phosphate exports. That suspect previously served as private secretary to Dassanayake. As reported at the time, the allegation is against the officer, not the MP — the charges concern the officer’s own conduct in granting approvals for three companies to export through Lanka Phosphate Limited, and Dassanayake is identified only as his former employer.

That distinction matters, because the phosphate allegation is routinely attributed to Dassanayake himself in secondary accounts. No filing available to this desk supports that attribution. The Colombo Chief Magistrate had ordered the officer further remanded until 9 October — the same day the MP was called in — but no source links the two appearances, and this desk does not assert a connection.

Not reported

Hiru does not say whether Dassanayake attended, how long any questioning lasted, or whether he was permitted to leave afterwards. It carries no comment from the MP, his lawyers or his party, and no statement from CIABOC on the record.

It also does not say whether he attends as a suspect or as a witness — a distinction the filing’s phrasing leaves open.

This report rests on a single verified newsroom. Ada Derana has carried the story but has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for eighteen consecutive days and could not be fetched or cited.

Source: Hiru News.