Chamara Sampath arrested on charges of accepting 8.1 million in bribes

Former Member of Parliament Mr. Chamara Sampath Dassanayake, who appeared today (12) to give a statement before the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption regarding an accusation of accepting a bribe of 8.1 million rupees, has been arrested by the said commission.

He had previously been informed to appear before the Bribery Commission on the 9th to record a statement related to this investigation. However, the former MP, who did not appear before the commission on that day, was arrested today when he came to give the relevant statement.

This arrest is based on an investigation into a massive alleged irregularity related to phosphate exports. According to the Bribery Commission, the root cause of this is the arrangement made for only three selected companies to export phosphate without following a proper procedure. In addition, the commission had launched an investigation into the alleged acceptance of 8.1 million rupees as a bribe from those companies for assisting them in obtaining the relevant export licenses.

The law is currently being enforced regarding the entire network related to this incident. Accordingly, Sumathipala Liyanarachchi, who served as Mr. Chamara Sampath's private secretary during his tenure as the State Minister of Primary Industries, has also been previously arrested in connection with this investigation and is currently remanded in custody.