Sri Lanka ex-president's son arrested on graft charges

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September 4, 2026 9:43 AM EDT

Namal Rajapaksa address his supporters during the election meeting in Dehiwala, Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 8, 2024. REUTERS/Thilina Kaluthotage

COLOMBO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - ‌The son ​of Sri Lanka's ​former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has been arrested and remanded until September 18 ‌on graft charges linked to purchases of Airbus ⁠planes by national carrier SriLankan Airlines, a top court ‌said on Friday.

Namal Rajapaksa, ‌who is a lawmaker representing the opposition Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, was arrested following more ​than five hours of questioning by Sri Lanka's key anti-graft body, the Commission to ⁠Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. The order to remand ​him was issued by Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama.

Rajapaksa has consistently denied wrongdoing. ​His lawyers were not ‌immediately available for comment.

His arrest is part of an ongoing investigation into ⁠a multi-million-dollar purchase of planes from European manufacturer Airbus in 2013. A delegation from Airbus was in ⁠Colombo in August to assist with the investigations.

Airbus reached a ​deal with French, British and U.S. authorities in 2020 after a three-year probe into allegations of bribery and ‌corruption over jetliner sales. It was handed a $4 billion fine to settle ‌the case.

SriLankan Airlines and Airbus did not ⁠immediately respond to a ‌request for comment.

(Reporting ​by Uditha Jayasinghe, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Sharon ‌Singleton)


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