Ex-president Rajapaksa’s son arrested by Lanka police on corruption charges

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha Rajapaksa was arrested by police on Saturday on corruption charges in a property purchase case.

Ex-navy officer Yoshitha was arrested from their home territory of Beliatta over the investigation of alleged misconduct in the purchase of the property during the term of his father’s presidency prior to 2015.

Yoshitha is the second among Mahinda Rajapaksa’s three sons.

His uncle and former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also quizzed by the police last week on the same property - a holiday home in the southern religious resort of Kataragama.

The arrest came as Mahinda Rajapaksa filed a fundamental rights petition on Friday in the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to reinstate his security, which was significantly reduced by the government last month.

Since the formation of a new government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in November last year, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s eldest son and legislator, Namal Rajapaksa, was quizzed by the police over another property case alongside an employee of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The new government in the run-up to elections had vowed to arrest everyone accused of wrongdoing during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency between 2005 and 2015.