Opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa has alleged that former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena was subjected to pressure and intimidation by investigative authorities in the days preceding his apparent suicide.
Speaking at a media briefing, the SLPP MP claimed Chandrasena had been pushed to make statements implicating his father, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and members of the Rajapaksa family. Chandrasena was threatened with imprisonment and “mentally harassed” in an attempt to obtain testimony aligned with what investigators wanted, Rajapaksa alleged.
He further accused the government of misusing state institutions — including the Police and investigative agencies — for political ends, while saying that anyone accused of wrongdoing should face fair investigations free of intimidation, threats or coercion.
The remarks add a third senior SLPP voice to the political fallout from Chandrasena’s death. Chandrasena was found dead at a Colpetty residence on May 8, one day after Colombo’s Chief Magistrate revoked his bail and issued an arrest warrant in the long-running Airbus bribery case. Earlier the same day, party general secretary Sagara Kariyawasam demanded that the CIABOC’s Director General face questioning, citing an affidavit Chandrasena had sworn in March 2024 alleging he had been threatened by an unnamed senior CIABOC official to implicate the Rajapaksas.
Independent businessman and Sarvajana Balaya leader Dilith Jayaweera has separately framed the death as a political and business “lesson” about the personal toll of accountability proceedings, telling reporters Chandrasena could not even find guarantors for bail.
The allegations from the Rajapaksa family camp will heighten political pressure on investigators in the Airbus track, where Chandrasena was the lead defendant accused of receiving bribes from the European aircraft maker for the cancelled SriLankan Airlines fleet order. Co-accused Shasheendra Rajapaksa was arrested by the CID earlier this month over alleged links to the same scheme.
Source: Newswire.
