Arrest warrant issued on ex-SriLankan Airlines CEO and wife

The Colombo Fort Magistrate has issued an arrest warrant on former CEO of SriLankan airlines Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake on allegations of money laundering in the SriLanka airlines Airbus refleet deal.

Earlier in the day the Attorney General has directed the CID to obtain an arrest warrant and arrest the two of them.

A spokesperson for the AG’s Department said that they had taken into consideration investigative material regarding the case to issue the order.

The developments came after revelations that Airbus SE hired the wife of a SriLankan Airlines (SLA) executive as a business partner through a dummy company she registered in Brunei.

The corporation then paid into this entity’s account a sum of US$ 2mn (Rs 362mn) out of a total US$ 16.84mn (Rs 3bn) promised in return for ensuring that the national carrier bought aircraft from Airbus, court documents revealed this week.

The SLA executive himself used his private Gmail account to communicate with and invoice Airbus for US$ 2mn (in November and December 2013) in exchange for buying aircraft from the corporation, it was revealed..

Airbus has been fined a record £3bn in penalties after admitting it paid huge bribes on an “endemic” basis to land contracts in 20 countries. One of those countries is Sri Lanka and involves the purchase of six A330 and four A350 airbuses as well as the lease of four other planes in deals agreed to between 2012 and 2013.