Sri Lanka graft busters question ex-president's brothers
Basil Rajapaksa remanded for two weeks, brother Gotabhaya hauled before anti-corruption body.
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Hours after the former president's youngest brother Basil was arrested on his return home from a trip abroad, another younger sibling, Gotabhaya, aged 65, was hauled before the country's main anti-corruption body over claims of kickbacks that he allegedly received while he served as defense secretary.
Gotabhaya, widely regarded as the real power behind 69-year-old Mahinda Rajapaksa during his decade-long rule, angrily denounced the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) as he arrived at their headquarters on Thursday.
"They are taking action against policy decisions we took," he told reporters in downtown Colombo. "At this rate, they can arrest the entire (former) cabinet for taking decisions. This is ridiculous."
"I have not done anything wrong. I was an honest government officer," Gotabhaya added.
Hundreds of Gotabhaya supporters carrying photos of him defied a ban on protests as they massed outside CIABOC. Many also carried doctored versions of the Sri Lankan national flag, without the green and saffron stripes that represent the minority Muslim and Tamil communities respectively.
The questioning took place behind closed doors although sources said that it was a brief session and Gotabhaya would return for a more lengthy interrogation early next week.
Meanwhile, former economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa was remanded for two weeks after being questioned for more than seven hours, his lawyer Udaya Rohan de Silva said.
"The government has prejudged the case and carried out this arrest," Basil told reporters as he was driven away from the magistrate's court at Kaduwela, a suburb of the capital.
The 64-year-old, who has dual Sri Lankan-American citizenship, had fled to the United States soon after his brother lost the January 8 election to Maithripala Sirisena, a former ally of Rajapaksa before he jumped ship to challenge his old mentor.
But Basil was arrested on Wednesday shortly after returning home to Colombo to face charges that are non-bailable. Police said formal charges are expected to be framed within two weeks’ time.
Two senior officials who worked under Basil were also arrested on charges that the three of them were responsible for a 70 million-rupee (US$530,000) fraud involving the construction of public housing.
Hundreds of supporters shouted anti-government slogans after the bail hearing, but celebratory firecrackers were also set off in and around the capital as news of Basil's arrest was broadcast.
Rajeve Perera, a rights activist who has organized several anti-corruption protests, welcomed Basil’s arrest and moves against other members of the former regime.
“Politicians who have destroyed this country should be punished,” he said. “When they are in power they use public money as if it were family property and never think about accountability.”
“There are more politicians to be arrested and any money recovered should be used for the public’s welfare,” Perera added.
The new government of Maithripala Sirisena, which came to power on a pledge to fight corruption during Mahinda Rajapaksa's decade-long rule, has accused him and his inner circle of syphoning off billions of dollars by inflating the size of foreign-funded infrastructure projects.
Mahinda is himself under investigation over a bribery charge and is due to be questioned by anti-graft detectives on Friday.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed the string of corruption probes against his relatives as part of a "witch-hunt" instigated by his successor.
"Neither I nor any member of my family has ill-gotten money. At first, they said I had money in Swaziland, then in Dubai. Show us the money, where is the evidence?”
"They said I owned a hotel in Dubai. Then they said all the hotels in Sri Lanka are owned by me and [brothers] Gota [Gotabhaya] and Basil," Rajapaksa said. "This is a joke."
The new president is expected to address the nation later Thursday amid growing pressure to call parliamentary elections.
The current legislature remains packed with Rajapaksa loyalists, complicating the new leader's reform program.
Source: AFP/UCAN
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