Sri Lankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena had recently secured bail in a high-profile corruption case that, in Sri Lanka, had taken a big hit in the news media, with the killing just days after he got bail and was suddenly discovered dead.
The former airline exec’s abrupt demise triggered novel ideas and heated public discourse with no end in sight, and at least some ongoing investigation into these circumstances.
Soon after bail, Chandrasena was discovered dead at his house in a probe of corruption stemming from contract deals over contracts to buy aircraft involving the national carrier, Sri Lankan media reported. Police said investigations were ongoing to determine the cause of death, but early details suggested it may have been a suspected suicide.
And officials haven’t issued another official statement about the specifics of his death. Kapila Chandrasena, Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, was during a time when the airline was in great financial difficulty and scandal over leases of more than $1.6 billion of the aeroplanes.
He later surfaced as one of the key suspects in a corruption inquiry connected to allegations of bribery and irregularities during the time he was in charge of his purchases of new planes. The corruption probe was about allegations that big commissions and illegal payments were added to contracts concluded over contracts over the purchase of Airbus planes for Lankan Airlines by Airbus.
Sri Lankan officials have also been alleged to have engaged in financial fraud related to the deals, and officials and middlemen were brought into the picture, according to the country’s anti-corruption agencies. Chandrasena and his wife were also arrested because of the investigation.
The suspected flow of millions of dollars in suspicious payments through foreign accounts linked to the accused, prosecutors said. The case was one of Sri Lanka’s most closely followed corruption cases, and its national airline and the scale of the alleged financial manipulation brought greater legal and regulatory scrutiny to the case.
Chandrasena had been issued bail in the court of a Sri Lankan Judge only days before his death after appearing in connection with charges. Reports were that the court set out conditions on him, while also giving him temporary release as the investigation and trial proceeded.
The death of the accused at the last moment has given an extra twist to the already explosive case. News of his death set off a fire in Sri Lanka. News of the tragedy swept across the country on social media, leading to an enormous response, speculation and debate on sites like Facebook, where so many polarising criticisms of the lengthy graft allegations on the airline were heard, and the news spread exponentially.
SriLankan Airlines has suffered from several allegations of losses of money, mismanagement of its corporate governance and political harassment over the past decades by being targeted for adverse years by the airline. Worse still: Airbus scandal and its connexion with the Airbus procurements incident emerged as a key emblem of alleged corruption and corruption as well as lack of governance in the state companies in the country in particular.
The bribery probe of Airbus had garnered international interest because Britain’s Serious Fraud Office revealed that significant bribery had been carried out at the level of suppliers in a number of aircraft, and links with corruption were reported in several countries worldwide. Sri Lanka was among the countries named when it was being targeted in wider inquiries about corruption claims levelled against Airbus globally.
Political academics in Sri Lanka said the Chandrasena case had become more sensitive due to queries about accountability, the misuse of public funds and political connections who had been implicated in the governance of the state. Forensic investigations and ongoing investigations are ongoing to determine the precise cause of death.
Police are also expected to be able to collect statements from family and others tied to the former CEO to carry out the investigation. The case once again raised questions, adding to the larger trends of corruption in Sri Lanka in the wake of recent developments, particularly concerning large state-linked institutions, the authorities said.
It’s the government’s call for transparency, and a full investigation to clarify the corruption charges against him and, yes, the circumstances of Chandrasena’s death, which are important issues many citizens have been demanding. It has brought on the death of the former chief executive of SriLankan Airlines, scandalising the entire country in one of the country’s most scandalous corporate corruption cases in recent years and has brought out the public’s humiliation while investigative studies compile.
