Sri Lankan politicians, especially Presidents and family members, have acted with increasing impunity from 1978, when the Executive Presidency was introduced by the late President J. R. Jayewardene. But it was the Rajapaksas that turned impunity into a way of governance.
Between 2005 and 2015 and again between 2019 and 2022, the Rajapaksas concentrated political, military, economic and administrative power within the extended family. Simultaneously, they weakened the commissions and institutions that could have held them accountable or could have checked their impunity.
On July 16, the Colombo High Court fixed August 31 for a pre-trial conference in the money laundering case against Yoshitha Rajapaksa and his 98-year-old grandmother, Daisy Forrest. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, joined the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) during the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a cadet officer and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. His monthly salary was Rs. 73,000 and it seems that he never even touched this money deposited into his account.
The prosecution alleged that nearly Rs. 59 million, of which lawful source could not be satisfactorily explained has been deposited in several banks as Fixed Deposit (FD) accounts between 2009 and 2013.
This is separate from another High Court trial involving properties allegedly acquired for more than Rs.73 million. Here he is accused of acquiring a 31-perch property on Sirimal Mawatha in Ratmalana for Rs. 35 million, a house in Dehiwala, and the Newburgh Estate in the popular tourist destination of Ella.
The announcement of a pre-trial conference itself seems unremarkable. In fact, this is a routine procedural step in the justice system. But setting a date is a sign that this decade-old case where prosecutors try to solve improbable arithmetic of how a young man could buy prime property presumably with a naval salary, is finally heading towards a trial.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa has pleaded not guilty to these charges, and the Court must now decide the case based on the available evidence.
A curious case
The case which has been dragging on for a decade has provided the public with several memorable anecdotes. Investigators were initially told that the money had come from his grandmother, Daisy Forrest who had worked in a Colombo hospital kitchen and later as a hostel matron at St Thomas’ College between 1976 and 1985. The prosecution calculates her Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) savings at Rs. 3,300.
A few decades later officials found that she maintained a joint account worth nearly Rs.59 million, the source of which has not been disclosed. When questioned by Police, she said a bag of gems, gifted by a mysterious person, was the source of her wealth.
Satirists on the internet have called Yoshitha a ‘national treasure’ from whom everyone must learn the art of thrift. What most people feel, however, is anger. Most Sri Lankans live pay cheque to pay cheque. Many struggle to educate children or meet a medical emergency and building a house or buying a car is an impossible dream for many.
They think that the Rajapaksas not only lived a life of Riley, but mismanaged the economy to such an extent that Sri Lanka defaulted in 2022, ushering in hitherto unseen levels of hardship for the common man. Sri Lanka has not yet recovered from the financial crisis, the Cost of Living (CoL), demand suppression and the collapse of agriculture after the organic fiasco.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa also faces a separate corruption case over his recruitment to the Navy and his training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Britain. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) alleges that he did not possess the academic qualifications then required to join the Navy’s Executive Branch. Applicants were expected to have passed the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) examination in the Mathematics or Science stream, but Yoshitha had studied in the Arts stream.
Investigators told the Court that the Navy subsequently changed the eligibility criteria via Government Gazette to permit applicants who had passed two subjects in any stream. They also alleged that the Ordinary Level (O/L) requirements were altered to match his qualifications.
The Commission further alleges that the Rajapaksa Government changed the selection process for overseas training in support of Yoshitha. Then Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda reportedly contacted the British college about admitting Yoshitha before he had formally joined the Navy. The College agreed to accept him but did not offer a scholarship, leaving the Sri Lankan State to meet the cost of more than 18 months of training. Investigators allege that Yoshitha received this opportunity solely because he was the President’s son rather than through the competitive process normally used to select cadets for prestigious overseas courses.
Running in the family
He is not the only member of the family facing legal scrutiny. Namal Rajapaksa is accused of criminal breach of trust involving Rs.70 million received from the India-based Krrish company, ostensibly for promoting rugby in Sri Lanka. The Colombo High Court has scheduled the trial to begin on November 16 after ordering summons to be served on two Indian witnesses.
Basil Rajapaksa faces an arrest warrant in a case concerning the alleged purchase of a one-and-a-half-acre property at Brown’s Hill in Matara using unlawfully acquired funds. His lawyers told the Court that he was abroad receiving medical treatment. The prosecution, however, alleged that he had avoided Court appearances for nearly a year, repeatedly relied on the same medical report and cancelled airline bookings made for his return. The Matara Chief Magistrate has rejected the explanation and ordered his arrest.
The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has separately ordered Basil’s arrest over the alleged misuse of Rs 7.8 million belonging to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. All this is in addition to the controversy and mystery over a bungalow in Malwana which was linked to Basil.
Shamindra Rajapaksa, a son of former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, is wanted in connection with the investigation into the SriLankan Airlines Airbus transaction. Investigators allege that US$160,000 linked to the transaction was transferred in 2013 to an account belonging to Shamindra, who was then a member of the airline’s board. He is reportedly living in the United States.
There is a travel ban on former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid ongoing Easter Sunday attacks investigations.
Delay in due process
The delay in due process became a tactic the political establishment used to protect itself. The Yahapalanaya Government had come into power promising swift action against the Rajapaksas, just like the 1994 Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga Government promised action against the 1977-94 UNP Government. Unsurprisingly, investigations against the Rajapaksas moved slowly.
From 2015 to 2019 files changed hands, officers were transferred, committees and commissions were appointed and witnesses lost confidence. In 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa came into power and prosecutors reconsidered the cases. By then the public had forgotten the original allegations or concluded that nothing would happen.
The Yoshitha Rajapaksa investigation began in 2016. The files reportedly reached the Attorney General’s Department in 2018, but an indictment in one of the cases was filed only in 2026. A decade is too long to determine whether a public figure can explain the source of money used to acquire a property.
Cases of this magnitude and public interest must proceed on a daily basis. A hearing every few weeks, punctuated by long adjournments for lawyers’ convenience, is an invitation to attrition. Such cases should be taken up daily as that would compel the prosecution to present its evidence efficiently and the defence to respond without just biding for time. This will signal that the era of judicial indulgence is ending, not by accident, but by design.
The High Court Judges who now manage these complex financial cases carry years of accumulated knowledge. They have read the bank statements, heard the preliminary objections, and understood the nature of the alleged offences. To transfer a Judge mid-trial, or to allow a Judge’s tenure to expire without extension when a verdict lies within reach, is self-sabotage.
Tenure extensions for the Judges handling these nearing conclusions are not a matter of personal accommodation but a matter of national priority.
Some will argue that daily hearings and judicial tenure extensions represent undue pressure on the Courts, and even a veiled attempt to engineer outcomes. The opposite is true. What actually places pressure on the Courts is a system where trials drag on for years, where witnesses pass away or forget the details, where public confidence drains away into the slow drip of adjournments. For example, Daisy Forrest now claims she is too old and cannot remember most of what transpired.
The Government is mulling reforms that essentially would facilitate what is mentioned above. Reforms that allow all Courts to hear cases daily or at least weekly, produce a verdict within a reasonable time, and withstand the inevitable political pressure, will not only restore public trust in governance but will also deter future political crooks in the making.
By Rathindra Kuruwita/Sunday Observer