Probe into corruption at Sri Lanka’s national airline
Sri Lanka’s new government has promised a full criminal probe into allegations of major corruption at the state-run national airline which could involve ‘billions of dollars’.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said an inquiry found ‘shocking details of corruption running into billions of dollars’ at SriLankan Airlines.
The move could also drag plane maker Airbus into an investigation as ‘irregularities’ were uncovered in a $2.3 billion deal to buy 10 Airbus aircraft in 2013, although a government statement did not allege any wrongdoing by Airbus.
The statement said former airline chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe should face prosecution.
Wickremasinghe resigned not long after his brother-in-law and former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa lost a January election to Maithripala Sirisena.
The statement also said there were numerous conflicts of interest regarding the awarding of contracts at the airline and that Rajapaksa himself forced the Airbus deal to go through despite other cheaper alternatives.
Since being ousted in the January 8 election, wide ranging graft allegations have been made against members of the Rajapaksa administration.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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