Transport Commission inspector jailed four years over Rs 20,000 bribe

A mobile inspector of the National Transport Commission has been sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 40,000 for taking a Rs 20,000 bribe to avoid acting against a bus carrying passengers beyond its seating capacity.

Colombo High Court Judge Mohomad Mihal imposed the sentence, Hiru News reported.

The convicted officer was named as Kotupitiya Arachchige Ranjith Kotupitiya.

The case

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) filed the case in the Colombo High Court. The charges were that, while serving as a mobile inspector of the National Transport Commission, he solicited and accepted a gratification of Rs 20,000 in return for not taking lawful action against a bus transporting passengers in excess of its permitted seating capacity.

The High Court convicted him on four charges and imposed the custodial sentence together with the fine.

CIABOC’s case was presented by Assistant Director (Legal), Attorney Kasun Fernando Gunawardanasooriya.

Why the offence matters

Overcrowding enforcement is the specific duty the inspector was paid to abandon. Bus seating-capacity limits are a passenger-safety rule rather than a revenue one, which is what distinguishes this from a routine permit matter — the bribe bought the removal of a safety check on a vehicle carrying the public.

Rigorous imprisonment is a custodial sentence served with compulsory labour, and four years is a substantial term for a sum of Rs 20,000. The ratio reflects that Sri Lankan bribery sentencing turns on the breach of public trust rather than on the amount involved.

Not reported

Hiru does not give the date of the offence, the bus route or operator concerned, or how the complaint came to CIABOC. It does not say whether the officer was interdicted or dismissed from the Commission, whether he has been in custody pending trial, or whether he intends to appeal. The filing does not set out the four charges separately or say how the sentences run.

No other verified newsroom had filed on the sentencing at the time of writing.