COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s anti-graft authorities have arrested former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena on allegations of accepting bribes linked to a multi-billion-dollar aircraft procurement deal with Airbus.
Officials from the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption confirmed on Friday that Chandrasena was taken into custody a day earlier and has been remanded pending further investigation.
The charges stem from a 2013 agreement under which the national carrier ordered 10 Airbus aircraft valued at approximately $2.3 billion, according to AFP.
Investigators allege that Chandrasena conspired to accept a bribe worth $16 million as part of the deal.
According to prosecutors, around €1.45 million of the alleged kickback was transferred into a Singapore bank account linked to a shell company established in Brunei under his wife’s name.
Authorities believe the offshore company was created specifically to channel illicit payments connected to the aircraft purchase.
The case adds to the mounting controversies surrounding SriLankan Airlines, which has struggled financially for years.
The state-owned carrier has accumulated losses estimated at 596 billion Sri Lankan rupees (about $1.9 billion) as of March last year.
Despite repeated attempts by the government to privatize or sell the airline, no buyer has yet emerged.
Chandrasena had previously faced legal trouble in connection with Airbus dealings.
In February 2020, he was arrested in a related but separate case before being released on bail.
Around the same time, authorities in the United States, Britain and France named him during a joint investigation into Airbus’ international sales practices.
That investigation culminated in January 2020 when a French court approved a record €3.6 billion settlement to resolve corruption probes against the European aerospace giant across the three countries.
British investigators had alleged that Airbus failed to prevent individuals associated with the company from bribing executives or employees of SriLankan Airlines in order to secure commercial advantage in aircraft sales.
The scandal has also touched other former figures linked to the airline. In June 2025, former chairman Nishantha Wickramasinghe — who led the airline’s board during the 2013 aircraft purchase — was arrested in a separate corruption case unrelated to the Airbus investigation.
Wickramasinghe was accused of financially backing his brother-in-law, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, during an unsuccessful re-election campaign. Legal proceedings in that matter are still ongoing.
Authorities say the latest arrest reflects ongoing efforts to address large-scale corruption cases tied to major state institutions and international business deals.
