Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was among those who paid their final respects to former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena on Sunday morning, at the private funeral parlour in Borella where the body has been placed.

Speaking briefly to journalists during the visit, Rajapaksa was asked whether he would attend before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), which has summoned him to appear on May 12 to record a statement in connection with the SriLankan Airlines Airbus procurement case. “Yes, I will go. We must go, right?” Rajapaksa told reporters, according to Newswire.

It is the first public confirmation from the former President that he intends to comply with the summons, the formal letter for which was delivered to his Carlton residence on Saturday — less than 24 hours after Chandrasena was found dead at a relative’s residence in Kollupitiya in what police have described as a suspected suicide.

The case relates to allegations that Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Nayomali Wijenayake, accepted a USD 2 million bribe in connection with SriLankan Airlines’ 2013 purchase of six Airbus A330 aircraft and eight A350 aircraft, Ada Derana reported. Bribery Commission officials told the court that Chandrasena had claimed Rs. 20 million from the alleged payment was given to then Civil Aviation Minister Piyankara Jayaratne, and that Rs. 60 million had been handed over to then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsekularatne, appearing for Chandrasena, has challenged those statements through an affidavit alleging they were obtained under intimidation by the Director General of the Bribery Commission.

The Colombo Crime Division has since recorded statements from 15 people, including former cricketer Aravinda de Silva, in its investigation into Chandrasena’s death.

Final rites for Chandrasena were conducted on Sunday evening at the Borella General Cemetery, Ada Derana reported in an updated bulletin. The post-mortem was carried out the previous day at the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology by a five-member panel of specialist judicial medical officers headed by Colombo Chief JMO Dr. Sriyantha Amararatne, with body samples sent for laboratory analysis.

Sources: Newswire, Ada Derana, Ada Derana.