The criminal investigations into MP Namal Rajapaksa over the SriLankan Airlines Airbus procurement are complete, and the Attorney General’s Department has told the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court it is moving to indict him before a permanent High Court trial-at-bar. The announcement was made on Tuesday as Rajapaksa was further remanded, NewsFirst reported at 1.21 p.m.
Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama extended his remand after the Airbus case was taken up. The allegation is that a bribe of Rs. 100 million was received in connection with the Airbus aircraft procurement transaction.
What the prosecution told the court
The court was informed that investigations into the cases filed against Rajapaksa under both the Bribery Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act have now been completed. Hiru News reports that the investigation extracts have been forwarded to the Attorney General, and that the two strands were run by the Criminal Investigation Department and the Bribery Commission respectively.
The Attorney General’s Department notified the court that steps are being taken to file a consolidated indictment covering both investigations, and to seek directions from the Chief Justice to have the matter heard before a permanent High Court trial-at-bar. Hiru adds that the trial is to be conducted before three judges.
Hiru also reports two orders that the other filings do not carry: the remand was ordered because no exceptional facts were presented on the suspect’s behalf, and the Bribery Commission was directed to file indictments immediately and report back. On the prosecution’s submission, Hiru records, this case will not be called in the Magistrate’s Court again.
Why this is a step up, not a routine extension
A trial-at-bar is heard by a bench of High Court judges rather than a single judge, without a jury, and is reserved for cases treated as grave. It is convened on the direction of the Chief Justice at the Attorney General’s request. Seeking one, and consolidating a bribery file with a money laundering file into a single indictment, moves the Airbus matter out of the investigative phase it has occupied since Rajapaksa was first remanded over the alleged Rs. 100 million Airbus bribe on 4 September.
It also explains an apparent oddity in the record. Rajapaksa was granted bail in the Airbus money laundering case on 30 September by Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena — a separate file from the Airbus bribery case, in which Chief Magistrate Bodaragama had refused bail a day earlier and fixed remand to run to 13 October. Those two files are precisely the ones the Attorney General now proposes to merge.
Where the accounts differ
Three verified newsrooms carry this hearing and they do not agree on every detail:
- The new remand date. NewsFirst and the Daily Mirror both report 28 October. Hiru reports the 27th, in both its headline and its text. Two outlets against one favours the 28th, but no filing gives a reason for the gap.
- The prosecutor’s rank. NewsFirst calls Janaka Bandara Additional Solicitor General; Hiru calls him Deputy Solicitor General. Both agree he appeared for the Attorney General.
- Whether the request has been made. NewsFirst reports Bandara told the court the request to the Chief Justice would be made “either today or tomorrow”. Hiru reports that a request has been made. The difference matters for when a trial-at-bar could actually be constituted.
Earlier in the day, both NewsFirst at 9.28 a.m. and the Daily Mirror at 10.36 a.m. described Tuesday’s production as the Rs. 70 million Krrish case. By midday all three newsrooms, including the Daily Mirror’s own later filing, identified it as the Airbus matter — the file whose remand was due to expire on 13 October. The Krrish case, in which bail is to be decided, carries its own date of 16 October.
Not reported
No filing says when the Chief Justice is expected to respond, how many accused the consolidated indictment will name, or what the charges will be. None reports any response from Rajapaksa’s lawyers to the trial-at-bar application, or whether the defence will contest it. Hiru refers to a fifth suspect in terms its English rendering leaves unclear, and no other filing identifies that party.
