Clearing legal backlogs and corruption baggage

 Col R Hariharan | Sri Lanka Strategic Perspectives – Sept 2026|

https://www.security-risks.com/post/clearing-legal-backlogs-and-corruption-baggage

Col R Hariharan in Sri Lanka Strategic Perspectives September 2026 seeks to outline how President AK Dissanayaka’s National People’s Power (NPP) is attempting to clean the Augean Stables of corruption of the Rajapaksa family amongst other notable events.

As International Crisis Group says, in Sri Lanka the President and the parliament have “historically imposed severe limits on courts' jurisdiction, deeply undermining their authority to prevent abusive detention and torture.” However, President AK Dissanayaka’s National People’s Power (NPP) government, seems to be against such coercive misuse of state powers. The government recently gazetted a new Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill in September 2026; it aims to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and establish stronger judicial oversight.

The much-awaited judgement of the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks was delivered on September 22, 2026. The three-judge panel of the Sri Lankan High Court convicted 15 of the 24 accused for their direct involvement in plotting the 2019 Easter Sunday jihadi suicide bombings. The coordinated Islamic State-inspired attacks targeted three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 279 people and injuring over 500 others. The court sentenced 15 accused to varying prison sentences exceeding 200 to 240 years each. This will ensure that they spend the rest of their lives in jail. Among those found guilty was Naufer Moulavi, the primary ideologue of National Towheed Jamaath and mastermind who orchestrated the suicide bombings. Out of the 24 men originally indicted in the trial, 9 defendants were acquitted and ordered to be released due to a lack of evidence. Under Sri Lanka's strict anti-terror laws, the court also ordered the immediate confiscation of all properties belonging to the convicts.

The second key event was the parliament passing with a two-thirds majority the controversial 22A amendment to the Constitution. The NPP government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka wanted the amendment to clear a backlog of over 1.1 million cases to proceed after the Supreme Court cleared it.  Opposition parties and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) had argued the amendment would pave way for misuse by the President. The amendment changes Article 107(5), raising the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65. The Parliament also passed the companion Judicature (Amendment) Bill. The Bill raises the retirement age of High Court judges from 61 to 63 and sets it at 62 for all other judges and magistrates. It also increases the maximum number of High Court judges from 110 to 120.

Pursuit of Karma?

In Buddhism, karma (Pāli: kamma) is defined fundamentally as intentional action. The Buddha taught that karma is a natural law of cause and effect driven entirely by the will or volition (cetanā) behind an individual’s acts. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa must be thanking his karma after the Attorney General’s decision not to prosecute him, unlike 31 others who are being indicted over the attack on protesters in Galle Face during the ‘Aragalaya’ period in May 2022. At the time of the attack, Mahinda was serving as Prime Minister under his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Former Minister Johnston Fernando and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon and former MPs and councillors are among the 31 being prosecuted.

However, Mahinda’s good karma has not helped the Rajapaksa political dynasty from investigations and prosecutions by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities ever since the NPP government came to power. State agencies have continued to investigate allegations of his immediate family siphoning off billions of dollars of public funds during Mahinda’s rule.

Mahinda’s son Namal Rajapaksa is already facing many corruption and money-laundering indictments. During the month, Namal was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) in the Airbus Deal Graft Case. He is accused of receiving roughly $800,000 in illegal payoffs over a controversial Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft procurement deal in 2013. He continues to remain in custody after a Colombo magistrate denied him bail.

The AG has also filed a High Court indictment against Namal for alleged acceptance of a bribe of LKR 70 million ‘for promoting rugby’ from the local agent of Krrish Group. The CIABOC arrested the former director of Krrish Group Janaki Siriwardena on charges of facilitating Namal’s multi-million-rupee bribe to fast track the land acquisition to the project. During Mahinda’s rule as President, the Krrish Group was promoting a massive $650 million “Krrish Transworks Square”, a luxury project in Colombo.

It is significant that India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly cracked down on Krrish Realtech and arrested Amit Katyal for organising a massive trans-border financial fraud. The Group is alleged to have collected ₹503 crore from prospective home buyers in Gurugram, India, for residential plots that were never delivered. Instead of developing the Indian properties, Amit Katyal allegedly transferred over ₹205 crore of homebuyers' funds abroad to finance the controversial luxury hotel project in Sri Lanka. The ED is said to have attached properties worth hundreds of crores, including the Krrish-owned structures in Colombo

Mahinda’s second son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, a former SLN officer, is also facing several money laundering and corruption charges. Police arrested him in January 2025 over “misconduct and the use of unexplained wealth to acquire luxury real estate in Kataragama, Ratmalana, Dehiwala, and the Newburgh Estate in Ella. Yositha and his grandmother Daisy Forrest are also facing a Colombo High Court trial, for depositing roughly LKR 59 million into various fixed deposit accounts between 2009 and 2013. This sum is said to be vastly in excess of Yositha’s lawful naval salary. The Bribery Commission had also arrested Yositha on charges of abusing his father's position as the President in 2006. The charges included securing promotion in the Navy without standard qualifications and illegally utilizing state funds for overseas military training at Dartmouth in the UK.

Ms Shiranthi Rajapaksa, wife of Mahinda, has also not escaped the NPP government dragnet. The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) had asked her to appear before it on Sept 24 to question her on the bank accounts associated with the ‘Siriliya Saviya’ organization, As Ms Rajapaksa is currently in undergoing an eye surgery in Singapore, her legal counsel has asked for a fresh  date when she returns.

Unlike his brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has the unique distinction of triggering Aragalaya mass protests that saw him fleeing from the country in while in office in May 2022.

Gotabaya's tenure as Defence Secretary was central to the controversial Avant-Garde floating armoury case for authorising a lucrative but legally questionable agreement with a private firm involving the illegal transfer of state weapons. Of course, these were part of wider probes into systemic financial crimes and human rights violations during the Eelam war. He was also called for questioning in connection with Yositha’s controversial acquisition of the luxury holiday home in Kataragama.

Neighbourhood First

During the month, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the island nation from September 8 to 10, 2026.  The visit, the first ever by an Indian defence minister in 38 years, emphasised India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ and SAGAR initiative. During the visit, the two nations signed three key agreements funded by India. These include the upgradation of six 40 mm L70 anti-aircraft guns for Sri Lanka Air Force, institutional cooperation between both National Defence Colleges and a National Cadet Corps youth exchange programme.

During the visit the two nations proposed an integrated, real time maritime surveillance grid in the Indian Ocean Region to share operational picture of narcotic smuggling and mutual security assistance. Joint fight against narcotic smuggling was also evident at the 5th Director General Level Talks between Narcotics Control Agencies of India and Sri Lanka held on 23 September 2026 in Colombo. The Indian defence minister virtually inaugurated three Bailey bridges built by Indian army engineers in Kurunegala and Batticaloa districts to restore communication under Operation Sagar Bandhu, during cyclone Ditwah. During the month, Indian Navy’s stealth frigate INS Udayagiri called up at Colombo for joint training and familiarisation exercises with Sri Lankan Navy personnel.

Good news

Of course, there was good news too during the month. Fitch Ratings upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating from CCC+ to B - with a Stable Outlook. It is an important recognition of how far the economy has progressed since bankruptcy in 2022. It shows the country’s macroeconomic stability has improved, fiscal and external balances have strengthened. Of course, it also shows reforms have progressed and immediate external financing pressures have eased. This has probably given confidence to the government not to implement the IMF condition to remove nearly one million  families classified as poor from the Aswesuma welfare programme next year.

[Col R Hariharan VSM, a retired MI specialist on South Asia and terrorism, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. Website: https://.col.hariharan@net Email:haridirect@gmail.com,]