Two more high profile Sri Lankan politicians arrested

Colombo, Aug 29 (PTI) In continuation of the arrests of former parliamentarians on charges of corruption, two more political leaders in Sri Lanka were arrested after they surrendered at local courts on Friday.

These arrests come days after former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on charges of corruption.

Rajitha Senaratne, a former minister, and Athuraliye Rathana, a former parliamentarian Buddhist monk, were both absconding and surrendered in the court on the day of hearing in their respective cases.

A magistrate's court remanded Senaratne until September 9 while Rathana was remanded until September 12 by the suburban Nugegoda court, police said.

Senaratne, a senior politician, was charged with awarding a questionable contract to a Korean company for sand dredging causing a loss to the government when he was the minister of fisheries in 2013.

Rathana has been evading arrest in connection with an ongoing investigation in the 2020 abduction of a fellow Buddhist monk.

The monk, Vedinigama Wimalathissa, had alleged that Rathana was behind his abduction to force him to sign documents so that Rathana could be appointed to parliament from the Ape Janabala Party in the 2020 August parliamentary election.

The arrests and subsequent remanding of the two former parliamentarians follows the August 22 arrest of former president Ranil Wickremesinghe in a case of alleged misuse of state funds. He became the first head of state of the country to be arrested and remanded.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake rode to power last year after campaigning on the anti-corruption plank. PTI CORR NPK NPK