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Former Sri Lankan Defense Secretary summoned to anti-graft commission

Xinhua, April 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lankan former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse arrived at the country's anti-graft commission on Thursday after he was summoned over corruption allegations.

Rajapakse, who is a brother of former president Mahinda Rajapakse, is to be questioned over his role in several institutions when he was defense secretary in the previous government.

A court last month issued a travel ban on Gotabhaya while another brother, former economic development minister Basil Rajapakse, who fled the island soon after his brother's January election defeat was arrested on Wednesday for the misappropriation of public funds, a day after he returned to the island nation.

The former president Mahinda Rajapakse himself will be questioned by officers of the anti-graft commission on Friday over bribery allegations.

Meanwhile, a tense situation arose outside the Bribery or Corruption Commission in the capital Colombo as a large crowd gathered to show support for the Former Defense Secretary as he arrived to record a statement.

The crowd, which included several opposition parliamentarians, started a protest despite a court order banning the demonstration, shouting slogans that a war hero should not be summoned in such a manner and blamed the government for resorting to political harassment.

Gotabaya Rajapakse and his brother Mahinda Rajapakse have been said to be largely responsible for the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the island nation, putting an end to a 30 year civil war. Endi