Kurunegala Deputy Mayor arrested over Rs. 3 mn bribe; ACMC suspends his membership

The Deputy Mayor of the Kurunegala Municipal Council was arrested by Sri Lanka’s Bribery Commission on Friday over allegations of soliciting a Rs. 3 million bribe from a businessman in exchange for awarding a tender, officials said.

M. Ashardeen Moinudeen, a member of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC), was taken into custody at a hotel in Battaramulla. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said investigations are underway into the alleged solicitation linked to a municipal tender process.

Moinudeen was elected Deputy Mayor after the ACMC supported the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) to form control of the council, the Bribery Commission noted. Kurunegala is a North-Western Province city of about 110,000 residents and one of the larger municipal councils outside the Western Province.

The ACMC suspended Moinudeen’s party membership with immediate effect on Saturday, a day after the arrest. The Hulftsdorp Magistrate’s Court remanded him until May 21. ACMC Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Rushdie Habeeb said the party maintains a “strict zero-tolerance policy” against corruption and that “the suspension will remain in effect until the conclusion of the ongoing investigations and any ensuing legal proceedings.” The party stressed that Moinudeen’s alleged actions were of a personal nature and did not reflect the values, principles or official position of the ACMC. The suspension is the first formal disciplinary action by an NPP coalition partner against a sitting elected official since the council elections.

The arrest is the second CIABOC action against an SLPP-era or coalition-tier local government figure within a week, following the remand of former Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Daya Pushpa Kumara Battage over an alleged Rs. 40 million loss to the State. CIABOC has stepped up local-government corruption investigations following the Anti-Corruption Act’s procedural strengthening and a wider Bribery Commission Act-based push by the NPP government on accountability cases.

Sources: Newswire, Ada Derana, NewsFirst, Newswire — remand.