Police name Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Daisy Forrest as suspects in money laundering case

Police today said that on the instructions of the Attorney General, they have named Daisy Forrest, the maternal grandmother of Yoshitha Rajapaksa, as a suspect in a money laundering investigation being conducted into Mr Rajapaksa. 

This was after investigators uncovered that over Rs. 59 million in funds had been kept in a joint account maintained by Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Daisy Forest, Police Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) K.B. Manathunga told a media briefing. 

Police had been conducting an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Yoshitha Rajapaksa since 2016 after he was unable to satisfactorily explain how he earned the funds amounting to over Rs. 59 million, SSP Manathunga said. 

It was during the course of this investigation that police uncovered that the funds being kept in a joint account under the names of Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Daisy Forrest, the SSP said. Accordingly, police named her as a suspect when the case came up before the Kaduwela Magistrate's Court today. He added that police have already obtained an overseas travel ban against Ms Forrest. 

The Kaduwela Magistrate's Court has imposed a travel ban on Daisy Forrest, the maternal grandmother of Yoshitha Rajapaksa. 

The travel ban has been imposed after police named her as a suspect in the case filed before the Kaduwela Magistrate's Court against Daisy Forrest.