Sri Lanka arrests Rajapaksa party chief over alleged death threat
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Sri Lanka’s Inspector-General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya (left, with an MP) was warned by Podujana Party general secretary Sagara Kariyawasam that he could be killed if he continued to be partisan.
PHOTO: AFP
COLOMBO – Sri Lankan police arrested a party leader of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Aug 10 for allegedly issuing a death threat against the police chief, officers said.
Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP), was taken into custody, the latest in a list of associates or relatives of the once-untouchable Rajapaksa political dynasty to be arrested.
The leftist government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September 2024 on a promise to crack down on bribery and graft.
Kariyawasam, at a press conference in Colombo last week, warned Inspector-General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya that he could be killed if he continued to be partisan.
Weerasooriya “considers this a death threat”, a police official said.
“The SLPP general secretary was arrested after recording a statement and he is being taken before a magistrate.”
Rajapaksa is himself facing allegations that he received kickbacks from Airbus over an aircraft purchase deal that was eventually scrapped.
The 80-year-old former president’s three children, wife, two brothers and several nephews and nieces are facing charges of money-laundering and stealing state funds. AFP