The Colombo High Court on Thursday ordered the bank accounts and three vehicles of attorney-at-law Rakhitha Rajapaksa suspended for three months, converting an administrative freeze imposed by the Bribery Commission last week into a court order.
Rajapaksa, son of former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, was present in court when the matter was taken up, the Daily Mirror reported.
The order follows this desk’s earlier reporting on the Commission’s own freeze at the end of October. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Commission is required to report such a suspension to the High Court within seven days — which is what produced Thursday’s hearing.
What the Commission told court
An Assistant Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said an investigation had been opened into an alleged Rs. 120 million bribe obtained from the wife of detained alleged underworld drug figure Nadun Chinthaka Wickramaratne, alias “Harak Kata”, in Dubai.
The alleged payment was made in exchange for ensuring Wickramaratne’s safety and facilitating his transfer to a secure prison.
Investigations had identified bank accounts and three vehicles belonging to Rajapaksa, she said, and had established sufficient grounds to proceed under the Proceeds of Crime Act, No. 5 of 2025. The Commission had accordingly frozen the assets under the Act and asked the court to suspend them for three months under that Act and the Anti-Corruption Act.
The defence argument
Counsel Chaminda Athukorala, for Rajapaksa, submitted that evidence establishing the accounts and vehicles were proceeds of crime had to be placed before court before any retention order could issue — and that no such evidence had been produced at this stage.
He also argued that the bank accounts in question had been opened before the alleged offence took place.
The Assistant Director General replied that Section 75 of the Proceeds of Crime Act empowers the court to issue a suspension order.
The judge found no legal impediment to making the order under the Act and granted it, further directing that preservation orders be communicated to the banks holding the accounts and to the Commissioner General of Motor Traffic in respect of the vehicles.
Where the filings disagree
The three newsrooms agree on the outcome, the statute, the sum and the underlying allegation, but conflict on three points of detail. A later Hiru News filing now sides with NewsFirst on all three.
| Daily Mirror | NewsFirst | Hiru News | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judge | Ruwan Dissanayake | Lal Ranasinghe Bandara | Lal Ranasinghe Bandara |
| Date CIABOC froze the assets | 29 October | 30 October | 30 October |
| Accounts covered | not specified | four | four |
On the balance of reporting, the presiding judge was Lal Ranasinghe Bandara, the Commission’s own freeze was imposed on 30 October, and four accounts are covered alongside the three vehicles. The Daily Mirror’s differing judge and date are recorded here rather than discarded.
The duration is consistent throughout: the Daily Mirror gives three months, while NewsFirst and Hiru News both state Rajapaksa is barred from operating the assets until 5 February next year — the same period expressed as an end date.
Hiru also confirms the seven-day statutory mechanism directly, reporting that the Commission was required to place the facts before the High Court within seven days of its own suspension, and did so on Thursday.
The underlying case
NewsFirst adds the procedural history. Rajapaksa was arrested alongside Charith Abeysinghe and Varusha Hennadige Aruna Sri Chathuranga over the alleged Rs. 120 million bribe, said to have been solicited to secure Wickramaratne’s release from Criminal Investigation Department custody and his transfer to a secure facility. The three were remanded on 25 June, held through several further remand orders, and granted bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on 28 July.
Hiru News gives the same three accused in the same order — Abeysinghe first, Rajapaksa second, Chathuranga third — and confirms all three were remanded and are now on bail. It transliterates the first and third names from Sinhala as Charitha Abeysinghe and Waruna Handige Aruna Chathuranga; both spellings are recorded here, as no filing gives the names in an official English form.
Not reported
Neither filing says what the three vehicles are, what sums the accounts hold, or whether the Commission intends to seek forfeiture at the end of the three months.
Neither reports whether the suspension can be extended, what becomes of the assets if no evidence is produced within the period, or when the substantive bribery case is next before court.
