Kapila Chandrasena, wife released on bail

Former CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Wijenayake, who were remanded in connection with the controversial Airbus deal, were released today on a cash bail of Rs.2 million with two sureties of Rs.20 million each by Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake.

They were accused of accepting a bribe of USD 2 million from a French Airbus company and on the charges of money laundering with the purchase of airbuses in 2013.

When the case was taken up before Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Thusith Mudalige informed the court that USD 2 million had been transferred to the Singaporean bank account of ‘BIZ Solutions’ registered under Priyanka Wijenayake. However, when recording statements from the suspects, they denied such a transaction.

During the submission, the magistrate questioned the DSG and CID on who initiated BIZ Solutions and inked the mandate for the company.

DSG Mudalige said after making the initial transaction, an amount of USD 800,000 had been transferred to the Singaporean bank account of ‘BVI Company’ known as Saber Vision Holdings on two separate occasions in 2014.

Furthermore, investigations revealed that the particular company was owned by Sri Lankan businessman Nimal Hemasiri Perera. However, providing a statement to the CID, Mr Perera said such an amount was not transferred to his account. (Yoshitha Perera)

Pix by Waruna Wanniarachchi