The Namal Rajapaksa indictment explains how aircraft procurement bribery cases move from allegation to courtroom across multiple jurisdictions.
By The Aviation Hub · 1 November 2026, 12:00 · 5 min read
Airline bribery cases occupy a peculiar space in the law: the alleged conduct is commercial, but its consequences are public, and the evidence is scattered across continents, companies and currencies. When Sri Lankan parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa appeared before the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar on 28 October 2026, facing 24 charges connected to SriLankan Airlines ' purchase of Airbus aircraft, it brought a case that began with a 2013 aircraft order into its fourteenth year of scrutiny. Understanding why that journey takes so long, and how it is made, matters to anyone who follows commercial aviation seriously.
The foundation of the case is a 2013 order placed by SriLankan Airlines for six Airbus A330-300s and four A350-900s, part of what News1st reported was a USD 2.9 billion agreement with Airbus. Five of the six A330-300s were delivered; the four A350-900s were not. Outlook India reported that the A350 orders were cancelled in 2015 after a change of government. News1st reported that the cancellation cost USD 98 million.
Sri Lanka's anti-corruption body, CIABOC, alleges that the owner of Sabre Vision Holdings paid LKR 100 million in bribes in 2014 and 2015, linked to that procurement. AeroTime and ch-aviation both report the LKR 100 million figure, though sources differ on its US dollar equivalent, with figures of USD 1 million and USD 300,000 appearing in different accounts. A separate element of the alleged scheme involves USD 800,000 transferred from a Singapore account held by Biz Solutions (Pvt) Ltd to Sabre Vision Holdings, according to AeroTime and ch-aviation .
The indictment names Namal Rajapaksa, alongside Shamindra Rajapaksa, Priyanka Niyomalie and Biz Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, according to AeroTime and ch-aviation . Rajapaksa was arrested on 4 September 2026 after being questioned by CIABOC, according to AeroTime , ch-aviation and Aviation A2Z . Outlook India reported , as cited by Aviation A2Z, that he was questioned for more than five hours before his arrest. Rajapaksa has denied wrongdoing, as AeroTime , ch-aviation and Aviation A2Z all note. The case was adjourned until 19 November 2026, with Rajapaksa remaining in custody, according to AeroTime and ch-aviation .
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has also been questioned in connection with the case, according to ch-aviation . AeroTime reported that former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, who also faced charges connected to the purchase, was found dead in Colombo in May 2026.
You can explore SriLankan Airlines' fleet history, including the A330-300s at the centre of this case, using our Aircraft Search .
Aircraft procurement bribery cases are structurally international. An airline buys from a manufacturer headquartered in another country, payments move through intermediaries in third countries, and the alleged conduct may be criminal under the domestic law of several states simultaneously.
In this case, the commission's evidence draws on statements from Airbus officials in France, alongside documentary and electronic evidence and statements from the businessman at the centre of the allegations, according to ch-aviation . News1st reported that 59 witnesses are listed. Assembling that testimony requires formal legal co-operation between jurisdictions, which adds time at every stage.
The UK Serious Fraud Office's investigation specifically included alleged bribery connected to Sri Lanka, according to AeroTime and Aviation A2Z . In January 2020, AeroTime reported , Airbus agreed to pay more than USD 3.9 billion to resolve bribery and export-control cases with US, French and UK authorities, while Outlook India reported , as cited by Aviation A2Z, that Airbus agreed to pay more than €3.5 billion in penalties under those coordinated settlements. The coordinated nature of the 2020 resolution, involving three separate jurisdictions acting together, is itself a measure of how much international machinery is required to close even the manufacturer's side of such a case. Individual prosecutions in the countries where bribes were allegedly received are a separate process, running to their own timetable.
Three forces conspire to slow prosecution. First, the financial flows are deliberately structured to be opaque. Money moves between corporate entities, often in different jurisdictions, and tracing it requires forensic accounting as well as formal requests for banking records from foreign authorities.
Second, political context shapes what is possible. A case that begins under one government may be shelved or accelerated when another takes power. The A350 cancellation itself came after a change of government in 2015, according to Outlook India as reported by Aviation A2Z. The Sri Lankan prosecution gathered pace under a subsequent administration.
Third, the human and corporate chains involved are long. A procurement bribery scheme typically involves an airline, a manufacturer, one or more intermediary companies, and individuals at several levels within each. Building a case that satisfies a criminal standard of proof against a specific named defendant, rather than simply establishing that corruption occurred somewhere in the chain, is inherently slow work. The 59 witnesses listed in this case, as News1st reported and ch-aviation carried, illustrate the scale of that task.
Airlines caught in procurement bribery cases face consequences that run parallel to, and sometimes ahead of, any criminal conviction. In 2021, SriLankan Airlines sought USD 1 billion in damages from Airbus and demanded cancellation of its remaining A350 commitments, along with return of USD 19 million in pre-delivery payments, according to AeroTime and ch-aviation . Civil claims of that kind can proceed without waiting for a criminal verdict, because the standard of proof is lower and the parties involved are often different.
The manufacturer, meanwhile, may reach a settlement with regulators long before any individual faces trial. Airbus closed its regulatory exposure in 2020 through coordinated settlements across three countries. Prosecutors pursuing individuals in recipient countries are working from a separate starting point, gathering their own evidence under their own legal frameworks.
Airline bribery cases move slowly because they are genuinely complex, not merely because institutions are slow. The SriLankan Airlines case illustrates every structural feature that makes them hard: an international manufacturer, intermediary companies spanning multiple jurisdictions, a politically connected defendant, and a gap of more than a decade between the alleged payments and the formal indictment. The 2020 Airbus settlements resolved the manufacturer's regulatory position without resolving the questions now before a Colombo court. What that court decides will be determined by Sri Lankan law and Sri Lankan evidence, on its own schedule.
This article draws on reporting by AeroTime , ch-aviation and Aviation A2Z .
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