CEA Chairman nabbed by Bribery Commission for soliciting Rs.10Mn bribe

• Preliminary inquiries revealed that the suspect had demanded the sum to facilitate a person with a forged document related to the environmental authority

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

Chairman of the Central Environment Authority (CEA) Supun S. Pathirage was arrested by the Bribery Commission officials last evening over soliciting a bribe of Rs.10 million from a person in order to issue a permit, police said.

A senior official attached to the Police Headquarters told the Daily Mirror the CEA Chairman was arrested by a team of commission’s detectives, whilst he was accepting the money in an undisclosed location in Colombo last evening.    

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the suspect had demanded the sum to facilitate a person with a forged document related to the environmental authority.

Director Investigation Division of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) told the Daily Mirror that the inquiries were underway as he had just returned to the country following a brief overseas visit.

They said that the businessman initially informed the matter to Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who directed the businessman to the Bribery Commission. Later the CEA Chairman, a former Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councillor and another were arrested.