Lanka convicts former Rajapaksa officials for misappropriation

Two senior officials of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration were today found guilty of misusing state money by a court here.
Former presidential secretary Lalith Weeratunga and former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), Anusha Palpita, were found guilty by the Colombo High Court in the 'Sil Cloth' case.
They were charged for misappropriation of Rupees 600 million to distribute clothes used for Buddhist religious meditation during the run up to the presidential election of 2015.
They were both fined Rupees 2 million each in addition to the payment of Rupees 50 million to the SLTRC by each of them.

After Rajapaksa lost the election to the incumbent Maithripala Sirisena scores of court cases were filed against the Rajapaksa's immediate family members and its senior officials for misappropriation of state assets, including corruption.
However, the current government was accused of going slow on investigations against the Rajapaksas. They had dubbed all court action against them as political vendetta.