Former Deputy Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, who trafficked government lands, arrested by the Bribery Commission

Mr. Jagath Pushpakumara, a former Member of Parliament, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries, and former Chairman of the Monaragala District Coordinating Committee, was arrested a short while ago by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

The primary reason for his arrest is his direct involvement in a corrupt process during the previous government's tenure, where government forest lands around Kadawara Wewa and the Demaliya - Vandama elephant corridor, located in the Wellawaya Divisional Secretariat Division of the Monaragala District, were distributed among several large-scale racketeers. This land grab, carried out in violation of the Forest Conservation Ordinance, has led to a massive elephant-human conflict in the area.

He has been accused of misusing this sensitive environmental zone, which is linked to the lives of nearly 120 wild elephants and was proposed to be declared an elephant management reserve under the Uma Oya Multipurpose Project. This arrest was made by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption due to illegal land transactions carried out by destroying this forest system, which also includes the Kirindi Oya watershed areas, and for aiding and abetting these activities.