COLOMBO, Nov 12 (Bernama-Xinhua) — Prasanna Ranatunga, who formerly served as Sri Lanka’s minister of tourism and civil aviation, was arrested Wednesday by officials of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, reported Xinhua.
The commission said in a statement that Ranatunga was taken into custody over alleged corruption during his tenure in 2021.
According to the commission, the case involves the procurement of a new insurance scheme for four institutions under the ministry.
Instead of purchasing the insurance policies directly from the state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), Ranatunga allegedly used a private brokering company, causing a loss of over 4.7 million rupees (about US$24,000 at 2021 exchange rates) to the SLIC.
The commission said the former minister will be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
Ranatunga has previously held several key positions under the administrations of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranil Wickremesinghe.
–BERNAMA-XINHUA