Monthly salary 140K, Honda Vezel leasing 132k - CI Waruni Bogahawatta remanded

Can a female government official earning a monthly salary of Rs. 140,000 have a monthly vehicle lease installment of Rs. 132,000? Due to this financial discrepancy and the unusually large suspicious amounts of money received into accounts, four suspects, including Chief Police Inspector Varuni Bogahawatta, who served as the OIC of the Administration Division at the Kothavila Police Station, have now been remanded.

The suspects, who were arrested by the Police Financial and Commercial Crimes Investigation Division on charges of money laundering, were produced before Matara Magistrate Chathura Dissanayake on the afternoon of the 3rd and subsequently remanded until next Friday (the 6th).

Investigating officers, presenting facts in court, pointed out that large sums of money had been received into the suspect Chief Police Inspector's bank accounts. She had been using a red Honda Vezel motor car bearing the number 'CBE 1874', valued at nearly Rs. 15 million, and she failed to legally confirm how she earned the money to purchase it or the sources that paid its massive leasing installments.

Due to these suspicious transactions, the said motor car was taken into custody by investigating officers on October 16th.

However, investigations have further revealed that this is not an isolated incident. According to reports, information has come to light that a person connected to a massive financial fraud allegedly involving the Matara District Rural Bank Association and the Matara Multi-Service Cooperative Society had paid the lease installments for the said motor car.

Massive financial fraud charges involving over Rs. 500 million to Rs. 1 billion have been leveled against Mr. Chaminda Gunasekara, the former chairman of these cooperative institutions, and he was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on April 10, 2026. In addition to this police inspector's motor car, which is said to have been purchased using funds related to those frauds, several other vehicles, including lorries belonging to several other individuals, have also been taken into police custody.

A panel of lawyers, consisting of Attorneys-at-Law Saranga Wadasinha, Sameera Meekandawatta, Kasun Nanayakkara, Udisha Weeraratne, and Dinesh Gamage, appeared in court on behalf of the suspect.

After extensively considering all the facts presented, the Matara Magistrate ordered the suspects to be remanded and further instructed the investigating officers to submit the progress and reports of the investigations related to the incident to the court on the 6th.