OMM Redaksiyası
Sri Lanka’s former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa has been arrested over allegations that a charity linked to her misused donations intended for a children’s hospital, the BBC reported.
Anti-corruption authorities detained the 73-year-old wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at their home in Colombo on Wednesday. Investigators are questioning her about 10 million rupees ($30,300; £22,800) raised by the Siriliya Saviya charity to buy a specialised scanner for Colombo’s Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital.
Officials say the Chinese government had already donated such a scanner. Shiranthi Rajapaksa has denied wrongdoing and said the money was not appropriated.
She returned to Sri Lanka on Monday from Singapore, where she had been receiving medical treatment. She had petitioned a court to prevent her arrest, but the hearing was scheduled for 12 October.
Manoj Gamage, a spokesperson for Mahinda Rajapaksa, said the money was safe in Siriliya’s accounts and that no fraud had taken place.
Investigations involving the Rajapaksa family
Mahinda Rajapaksa was president from 2005 to 2015. He was widely praised by supporters for ending nearly three decades of civil war when Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated in 2009, during his first term.
In 2022, protests erupted as inflation surged and the country ran short of fuel, food and medicine. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda’s brother and Sri Lanka’s leader at the time, was eventually toppled.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government has since revived corruption investigations involving members of the Rajapaksa family. Namal Rajapaksa, Mahinda and Shiranthi’s eldest son, was arrested earlier this year over allegations related to an aircraft procurement deal during his father’s presidency and is in remand. His brother Yoshitha was also arrested earlier this year on corruption charges.
