Son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Saturday under the country's money laundering act and remanded in custody until Feb. 11, the police said.
Several members of the Rakapaksa family are facing police investigations for alleged financial crimes. They include Rajapaksa, who was president for a decade until 2015, his brothers Basil and Gotabaya, his wife Shiranthi and eldest son Namal.
Rakapaksa's second son, Yoshitha, a 27-year-old naval officer, was arrested with four others, including Rakapaksa's spokesman and a brother of Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga.
A local court ordered those detained to stay in custody until Feb. 11, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.
Yoshitha, who was Sri Lanka's national rugby team captain when his father was the president, was arrested after more than six hours of questioning by police, two officials told Reuters.
Rajapaksa, who went to the local court to hear the order against his son, angrily condemned the police's use of the money laundering act to arrest his son.
"Today they (the government) have used that act which we brought to deal with terrorists to put the son of the person who eradicated terrorism behind bars," Rajapaksa told reporters.
"We have trust in the judiciary system and expect the justice will prevail. All these (actions) are to take revenge of me."
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to vacate his official residence at Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo this morning, a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) source said.
The Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Bill was passed by a majority of 150 in parliament today. However the opposition MP’s were absent during the voting.
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