Former Minister of Special Projects and former Deputy Minister of Economic Development S.M. Chandrasena was indicted before the Colombo High Court on Friday over alleged corruption linked to the distribution of government-imported seed maize in the Anuradhapura District in 2014.
According to the indictment filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Chandrasena is accused of exerting undue influence over public officials — including the Director of Planning at the District Secretariat — to direct 36,000 kilograms of seed maize, procured with public funds for distribution at concessionary prices to low-income farmers, to his associates instead of the intended beneficiaries. Authorities allege the conduct, said to have taken place between January 1 and December 31, 2014, constitutes an offence punishable under Section 70 of the Bribery Act. Two separate charges have been filed.
The seed maize case is a distinct CIABOC track from the Airbus bribery file that has dominated the Chandrasena family name on the accountability docket. Former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena’s bail saga and subsequent death in custody remain the subject of an active inquest, while the Bribery Commission itself spent much of April and May escalating its prosecution of senior figures of the previous administration — including the refiling of the Greek bond case against former CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal under the Anti-Corruption Act, the probe into former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the arrest of former Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal.
S.M. Chandrasena was first arrested by CIABOC on July 4 last year on the same allegations and produced before court at that time, NewsFirst reported. Friday’s indictment moves the matter from investigation to formal trial in the Colombo High Court.
Update: August 28 — magistrate’s court stage closed
The Bribery Commission told the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday, August 28, that indictments had already been filed against Chandrasena in the High Court, and that proceedings before the magistrate would therefore be concluded, Hiru News reported.
Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama ordered the former minister to appear in the High Court on the date already designated. Chandrasena appeared in open court on Friday.
The step is procedural rather than substantive: it formally retires the lower court’s role in a file that moved to the High Court in June. It does not represent a new charge, and no trial date was reported.
Hiru’s account gives the arrest date as 4 July without a year, which reads as 2026 but refers to July 4, 2025 — before the June 2026 indictment reported above. Hiru also renders the commodity as seed maize procured at a cost of Rs. 25 million, a figure the June reporting did not carry alongside the 36,000 kg quantity.
Friday was the same sitting at which the Commission reported the completion of its investigation into former Moratuwa mayor Saman Lal Fernando and the conclusion of its preliminary probe into former minister Manusha Nanayakkara.
