The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has called for the removal of the Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), alleging abuse of power and unlawful conduct in legal proceedings involving former SriLankan Airlines Chairman Kapila Chandrasena.
SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said CIABOC had made an “illegal request” before court seeking the cancellation of Chandrasena’s bail. He claimed two individuals initially presented as sureties were rejected by the court registrar, after which two legally acceptable sureties were produced and bail was properly granted. “Thereafter, Kapila Chandrasena obtained bail by presenting two valid sureties without any legal issue,” he said.
Kariyawasam alleged the Commission then sought to have Chandrasena remanded again on the assumption that the rejected sureties had been accepted by court. “This request made before court by the Bribery Commission is completely unlawful. We have never seen the prosecuting party in a case show this level of interest regarding the suitability of sureties,” he said.
He further claimed the Director General had previously threatened Chandrasena, allegedly telling him he would “be pushed to a point where he would hang himself.” Chandrasena was later found dead in an apparent suicide on May 8.
Kariyawasam called on the three CIABOC commissioners to investigate the Director General’s conduct and recommend his removal to Parliament if warranted, while raising concerns over political interference in the Commission’s independence. The demand echoes earlier opposition criticism, including the SLPP’s own questioning of Chandrasena’s death and G.L. Peiris’s claim that CIABOC was being used as a “political tool” in the same case.
