Rajapaksa’s wife probed

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s police said Monday they questioned ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s wife, as the new government escalated anti-corruption investigations against the former first family accused of siphoning billions of dollars from public funds.
Police Financial Crime Investigations Division (FCID) interviewed Shiranthi Rajapaksa for over two hours about a fraud involving a private charity she had helped set up, police sources said.
The FCID did not issue an official statement, but the sources said she had operated a bank account of the charity by giving false personal details which made it difficult for tax authorities and auditors to track transactions.
However, the former first lady issued a statement shortly after being questioned which denied any wrong doing and blamed bank officials for recording her identity details incorrectly in their records.
“An error has obviously been made (by the bank) in entering the identity card number into the (bank’s) computer system,” she said in her statement, while insisting that she was innocent.
She has also been accused of profiting from an alleged sale of 500 million rupees ($3.8 million) worth of state-owned gold, but it was not clear if she was questioned about it on Monday.
The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena who toppled the former strongman at January 8 elections, has accused the former first family of stashing “billions” of dollars in foreign banks.
It has sought help from the US and India to trace stolen wealth under Rajapaksa, who ruled from November 2005 to January 2015.
Rajapaksa’s economic development minister, younger brother Basil, has already been remanded in custody over allegations that he used state money for his political campaign work.
The youngest Rajapaksa brother, Gotabhaya, is facing an inquiry that he received kick backs from arms deals while serving as the powerful defense secretary under his brother.
The former president himself is under investigation by the anti-graft commission, but he is yet to be questioned.
In an interview with AFP six weeks ago, Rajapaksa slammed the string of corruption probes against him and his relatives as part of a “witch-hunt” instigated by his successor.
An ethnic Sinhalese, Rajapaksa remains popular among big sections of the island’s largest community for overseeing the defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in 2009 after a 37-year conflict.