[Over
the last 18 months, several high-ranking members of the Rajapaksa family have
been arrested on corruption charges. Namal Rajapaksa is the third member of the
former president’s immediate family to be arrested. He was widely believed to
be his father’s heir apparent.]
By Dharisha Bastians
 |
Namal Rajapaksa, center, a son
of the former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
was escorted by prison
officers after his arrest in |
COLOMBO,
Sri Lanka — The oldest son
of Sri Lanka’s former president,Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested Monday on
charges of money-laundering in the government’s latest effort to prosecute
members of the previous administration — many of whom have been under
investigation since Mr. Rajapaksa’s election defeat last year.
The
son, Namal Rajapaksa, 30, who is a member of Parliament representing his
father’s home district of Hambantota, was placed in the custody of the police
by a magistrate in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on charges of accepting $480,000
from a real estate company.
Over
the last 18 months, several high-ranking members of the Rajapaksa family have
been arrested on corruption charges. Namal Rajapaksa is the third member of the
former president’s immediate family to be arrested. He was widely believed to
be his father’s heir apparent.
The
new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, came to powerin January 2015,
promising to investigate corruption allegations against the Rajapaksa
administration. But critics say the authorities have been slow to act, with a
spate of interrogations, arrests and bail applications leading to very few
actual indictments and prosecutions.
The
case against Namal Rajapaksa centers on an agreement signed with a real estate
company while his father was still in power. The company leased state-owned
land in the heart of Colombo
The
project grew contentious after opposition party members accused figures of the
Rajapaksa administration of accepting secret payments to secure the land deal.
The
current deputy foreign minister, Dr. Harsha de Silva, then an opposition
lawmaker, said in 2013 that the names of several high-ranking members of the
Rajapaksa administration had been linked to the transactions.
The
police asked the magistrate in Colombo
As
the police led him to court on Monday, Namal Rajapaksa made his disagreement
with the proceedings known, saying sarcastically, “This is what they call good
governance?”
Mahinda
Rajapaksa, the former president, was allowed to visit his son at the Welikada
Prison in Colombo
“All
I have to say is, ‘Well, is the government happy now?’” the former president
asked, grinning broadly at television cameras as he left the prison complex. “This
is nothing more than a witch hunt, and it’s becoming quite routine,” he said.
In
January, the authorities arrested the former president’s second son, Yoshitha, also
on money-laundering charges. He has been released on bail and is awaiting trial.
Last
year, the former president’s brother Basil, who had served as economic
development minister, was arrested on charges of financial misappropriation. He
has been released on bail on that charge and several others.
The
former president’s wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and his younger brother, Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa, who served as defense secretary, are also being investigated by the
authorities on multiple allegations, including financial misappropriation.
Geeta
Anand contributed reporting from New Delhi
