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Sri Lankan anti-corruption authorities have arrested former Sri Lankan Airlines chief Kapila Chandrasena over allegations that he conspired to receive bribes linked to an aircraft deal with Airbus.
Officials from the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said Chandrasena, who served as CEO of SriLankan Airlines during a 2013 agreement to purchase 10 aircraft valued at $2.3 billion, was arrested on Thursday and later remanded in custody.
Investigators allege that he was involved in a scheme to receive a $16 million bribe, with about €1.45 million reportedly transferred to a bank account in Singapore.
According to prosecutors, Chandrasena allegedly set up a shell company in Brunei in his wife’s name and arranged for the payments to be channelled into the company’s Singapore account.
SriLankan Airlines has struggled financially in recent years, with accumulated losses estimated at about 596 billion rupees (around $1.9 billion) as of March last year. Efforts by the government to sell the airline have so far failed to attract buyers.
Chandrasena had earlier been arrested and released on bail in February 2020 in connection with a related but separate investigation. At the time, authorities in the United States, Britain and France named him in a joint probe into Airbus business dealings.
In January 2020, a French court approved a €3.6 billion settlement for Airbus to pay authorities in France, Britain and the United States to resolve corruption investigations.
British investigators had accused the aircraft manufacturer of failing to prevent individuals linked to the company from bribing officials of SriLankan Airlines to secure business advantages.
In a separate development, former chairman of the airline Nishantha Wickramasinghe was arrested in June 2025 in an unrelated corruption case. He was accused of financing his brother-in-law’s unsuccessful re-election campaign, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The case remains ongoing.
