President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said 10 corruption and fraud cases are scheduled to be taken up in court during May and that an order was issued on April 30 for a verdict to be delivered in one of them within the same month, telling the Nuwara Eliya District May Day rally that legal action against past wrongdoing would unfold “case by case” in the months ahead.

Addressing the rally on May 1, Dissanayake said the government had strengthened the Criminal Investigation Department and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to pursue corruption-related cases. “We have strengthened the Criminal Investigation Department, and a large number of investigations have been launched. The public remains calm, but those accused are anxious,” he said.

The President warned that a significant number of individuals accused of fraud and corruption would face imprisonment in 2026, stressing that the law would be applied equally regardless of political status or family ties. “We do not distinguish between former Presidents, Prime Ministers or their families. The law will apply equally to all,” he said.

Dissanayake said the National People’s Power administration was the “most trusted” government in Sri Lanka and had secured the confidence of citizens across the Hill Country, North, East and South. He said the rally was the first held in the Nuwara Eliya District by his party and signalled that the Malayagam Tamil community had placed its trust in the NPP.

The President said the broader objective of his administration was to build a country with stable incomes for working people, quality education, adequate housing, the rule of law and national unity. He reiterated that the government’s two policy tracks were taking decisions “for the people” and reducing the privileges enjoyed by the ruling class under previous administrations.

The corruption-cases timeline aligns with the strengthened CID and Bribery Commission framework that opposition figures including Dilith Jayaweera have nonetheless contested in their own May Day messaging. Dissanayake’s address was delivered alongside 21 other NPP rallies across Sri Lanka on May 1.

Sources: The Island, Ada Derana.