By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has referred the Pandora Papers disclosure of allegedly hidden wealth of former lawmaker Nirupama Rajapaksha, her husband Thirukumaran Nadesan, and former Finance Secretary Ramalingam Paskaralingam, to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Head of Investigations SSP Nuwan Asanga revealed this when The Island inquired about the status of the high profile investigation launched in early Oct. 2021, on the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s directive. SSP Asanga said that the disclosures had to be appropriately dealt in terms of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006.

The CIABOC consists of Justice Eva Wanasundera (Chairperson), Justice Deepali Wijesundera and Chandra Nimal Wakishta, formerly of the State Intelligence Service (SIS).Responding to another query, the SSP said that the Attorney General’s advice hadn’t been sought in this regard so far.

Former government agent, Paskaralingham served as Secretary to the Treasury (1989 – 1994) and as a senior advisor to Prime Minister (2002–2004 and 2015–2019).The CIABOC submitted an interim report on the investigations to the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in June this year, amidst political turmoil leading to his ouster in the following month.International Consortium of International Journalists (ICIJ) made a spate of shocking revelations, following the examination of 11.9-mn confidential documents from 14 offshore service providers.

During CIABOC investigations, the failure on the part of Parliament to at least maintain a registrar of members’ asset declarations had been revealed. Nirupama Rajapaksa served as Deputy Minister of Water Supply and Drainage, from 2010 to 2015.

Both Nirupama Rajapaksa and Thirukumaran Nadesen had denied any wrongdoing on their part.Authoritative sources said that investigations that had been conducted so far by the CIABOC indicated that the issues at hand were outside the purview of the outfit.

Pandora investigations also dealt with substantial investments received by the Horizon College of Business and Technology (HCBT), situated in Malabe, from Paskaralingam. Funding had been made through a Singapore-based entity, owned by a trust in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). It has been reported that the Singapore–based company owns as much as 80 percent of the Malabe College that initially obtained registration as a vocational training facility.

ICIJ has received the papers, related to Paskaralingam, from the Trident Trust, one of the BVI’s oldest and largest trust companies. Documents revealed that Paskaralingam established a structure in the BVI called ‘The Aran Trust’ in July 2012. Paskaralingam and his family members have been named as beneficiaries.According to HCBT’s website, it has been recognized as a degree-awarding institute by the Ministry of Higher Education, in Sri Lanka, as well as a private higher education service provider in Sri Lanka by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

An email sent to Upul Daranagama, Chairman, HCBT, yesterday (18) requesting an opportunity to clarify certain matters pertaining to the ongoing investigation, bounced back. Prof. H.L. Obeysekera said that he was no longer the Rector, HCBT, hence his inability to respond to media queries. When The Island pointed out that the HCBT website, as of today, named him as the Rector, Prof. Obeysekera stressed that he was only the Dean, Faculty of Technology, Horizon Campus.An executive of HCBT said that Daranagama could be contacted on Monday while asserting HCBT and Horizon Campus were two entities under Horizon.

Meanwhile, the CIABOC is expected to respond next week to Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, accusations that the outfit didn’t serve any purpose. Lawnaker Rajapakse questioned the rationale in maintaining the CIABOC which did nothing. The PC found fault with the outfit for its failure to inquire into his complaints, lodged over the years.