The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has further remanded three suspects until May 20 in the widening investigation into a paid-surety scheme used to secure bail for former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena, who died under unexplained circumstances on May 8.
The Colombo Additional Magistrate extended the remand of two men accused of arranging two fake sureties, alongside the person who introduced them to the network, after the Keselwatta Police told the court investigations into the suspects are still ongoing, Ada Derana reported.
The three suspects had been produced before court on Tuesday after Keselwatta Police identified them as part of the network that procured paid guarantors for Chandrasena. The court had previously ordered an identification parade for one of the suspects.
The new remand order marks the sixth procedural step in a fast-moving accountability thread that began when the Magistrate granted Chandrasena bail on May 5 over Bribery Commission objections. Police subsequently established that two of the three Rs. 10 million personal sureties had been arranged through payments of Rs. 15,000 each, and those original paid guarantors were remanded on May 6.
A 74-year-old broker accused of running the surety procurement chain was arrested by the Colombo Crime Investigation Bureau on May 12, the same day the new arrangers were first produced in court.
Chandrasena had been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption over claims he received a USD 2 million bribe linked to the 2013 Airbus aircraft purchase. The CIABOC track continued on Tuesday with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa appearing at the commission to give evidence in the same case.
Source: Ada Derana — Three further remanded over alleged bail fraud in relation to Kapila Chandrasena’s case.
