Ministry additional secretary arrested over alleged corruption

Colombo, Oct 08 (Daily Mirror): Saman Kumari, former Acting Director General of the Office for Reparations and current Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, was arrested today by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

The arrest is linked to a disputed compensation payment related to government property in Monaragala District, owned by the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority. The Bribery Commission said that compensation for the property had previously been rejected by the Special Officers Committee appointed by the Cabinet on May 22, 2022, and by the Board of Directors of the Office for Reparations on November 1, 2023.

Despite these rejections, Saman Kumari, while serving as Acting Director General, allegedly sent a letter on January 22, 2024, to the Director General of the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority seeking approval to release financial relief to Manoji Hemalal Ekanayake. CIABOC said this was done without proper approval from the Board of Directors.

The payment in question totalled Rs. 8,850,000. Investigating officers allege that Kumari abetted corruption and criminal misappropriation of public property by inducing officials of the Reparations Office to approve and release the payment on January 26, 2024.

The suspect was taken into custody this morning and is to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.

Earlier, former State Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa was also arrested and remanded over the same matter. 

Rajapaksa was implicated in obtaining compensation through a third party for a damaged building on government land in the Sevanagala-Kiribban Wewa area, which was destroyed during the May 9, 2022, island-wide protests.

According to CIABOC, several properties, including illegally constructed buildings on plots owned by the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority in Sevanagala-Kiribban Wewa, were damaged during the public uprising.