Gotabaya Rajapaksa appears before anti-graft body

Seeks more time from Commission to answer questions

Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrives at the bribery commission in Colombo on Thursday.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary and brother of the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Thursday morning appeared before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, popularly called Bribery Commission, and sought time to respond to issues concerning Mihin Sri Lanka, a low fare airline.

The former Defence Secretary’s lawyer, Sagara Kariyawasam, told

The Hindu that Mr. Rajapaksa appeared before an investigating officer of the Commission and when the officer raised questions on certain lease agreements pertaining to the airline, the former Defence Secretary wanted more time as the questions pertained to transactions that took place during 2006-2007 when he headed it briefly.

“As we do not have official documents now, we have requested the Commission to grant time,” Mr. Kariyawasam said, hoping that the Commission would inform Mr. Rajapaksa shortly about his next appearance. Officials of the Commission refused to comment on the development.

Demonstration As the former Defence Secretary went to the Commission’s office on Malalasekera Mawatha here, his supporters staged a demonstration and traffic was disrupted in and around the area for sometime.