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Wednesday, October 28 2026
Wednesday, October 28 2026
MONETABRIEF – Former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa's eldest son and opposition legislator Namal Rajapaksa had his bail applications rejected once more in the concurrent corruption cases against him, while one court extended his remand until November 19.
Following his indictment before the special three-member trial-at-bar, Namal Rajapaksa was ordered today to be further remanded, with the next hearing scheduled for November 19.
He is accused of receiving 100 million rupees as a kickback in the $2.3 billion Airbus aircraft deal signed when his father was president in 2013. The deal collapsed after a new government came to power in January 2015.
The details of the Airbus corruption were disclosed not by the government that succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015, but by a multinational investigation that also involved the US, France and the UK.
Airbus agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion in global penalties in January 2020 to settle the multi-year corruption and bribery investigation, which also showed that the then chief executive of SriLankan Airlines had been paid $2 million of an agreed $16 million.
Kapila Chandrasena, the SriLankan Airlines chief executive who was a principal accused in the graft case, was found dead at a relative's home in Colombo on May 8.
In testimony that was later disputed, Chandrasena told investigators that he had shared the Airbus cash with Mahinda Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa's cousin Shamindra Rajapaksa, who was at the time a director of SriLankan Airlines.
In the High Court case, Chandrasena's widow, Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, has been named as an accused along with Biz Solutions, a Brunei-based company registered in her name. According to court records, the bribe money was channelled through a Singapore bank account belonging to Biz Solutions.
The Australian government has cooperated with the Sri Lankan authorities to establish a paper trail for the money and to trace how part of it ended up in Melbourne.
Namal Rajapaksa, who faces a further charge of receiving bribes in connection with the Krrish development, has been remanded until November 6 by the Colombo Fort magistrate.
When lawyers for Rajapaksa cited his mother's heart procedure as an exceptional circumstance in seeking bail, the magistrate declined the request. The High Court too did not grant him bail. (Colombo/Oct 28/2026)
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