News
Airbus bribery case: Chandrasena granted bail, overseas travel ban imposed
Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodharagama yesterday (05) granted bail to former SriLankan Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kapila Chandrasena, arrested on March 12 and re-remanded subsequently in connection with ongoing investigations into receiving USD 2 mn bribe from Airbus Industries to facilitate aircraft sales to Sri Lanka during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term.
The Magistrate ordered Chandrasena’s release on cash bail of Rs. 500,000 and three surety bails of Rs. 10 million each and imposed an overseas travel ban.
Serious accusations were directed at the SriLankan Airlines following UK-led investigation into bribery practices by Airbus. That probe revealed that in 2013, SriLankan Airlines agreed to purchase 10 aircraft worth approximately $ 2.3 billion. According to investigators, Chandrasena allegedly accepted a massive bribe as part of the transaction. The payment was allegedly routed through intermediaries and shell companies.
Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Wijenaike, were first arrested and remanded in February 2020 after a British court found that Airbus had paid $2 million to a shell company, Biz Solutions Inc., set up in Brunei in 2012. The money was transferred to a Singapore account of the company, investigators have said.
Chandrasena served as the Chief Executive of SriLankan Airlines from July 2011 to February 2015.
British court documents in 2020 revealed that the wife of a SriLankan executive had acted as an agent for the procurement of Airbus aircraft, and Airbus had offered a bribe of $16 million.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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Ms. M.K.D.N. Madampe, appointed as Director General of the Department of Management Services
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to appoint Ms. M.K.D.N. Madampe, an officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service in the Special Grade who is currently serving as an Additional Director General of the Department of Management Services, to the post of Director General of the Department of Management Services with immediate effect.
Cabinet approves sale of Paddy stocks held by the Paddy Marketing Board
Amendment to the Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 to be gazatted
Ms. M.K.D.N. Madampe, appointed as Director General of the Department of Management Services
Cabinet approves collaboration agreement between Sri Lanka and Brazil for the implementation of the “Sugarcane Project in Sri Lanka”
Cabinet approval for Implementation of a Project for the Joint Exchange of Genetic Resources between Sri Lanka and Vietnam and the Development of High-Yielding and Salinity-resilient Rice Varieties.
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