Former Navy Chief Karannagoda released on bail after bribery arrest
COLOMBO ‒ Former Sri Lanka Navy Commander, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, was granted bail on Friday (3) by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court hours after being arrested in connection with allegations of corruption linked to the recruitment and overseas training of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa.
Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama issued the bail order after considering submissions made by officials of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and defence counsel representing the former navy chief.
Karannagoda, 73, was arrested earlier on Friday by CIABOC over allegations that he improperly facilitated the 2006 enlistment of Yoshitha Rajapaksa into the Sri Lanka Navy despite him allegedly not meeting required qualifications, and subsequently enabled his participation in a training program at the Britannia Royal Naval College in the United Kingdom at state expense, in violation of established procedures.
CIABOC has alleged that Karannagoda abused his official position in the recruitment and training process.
The former navy commander served during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in 2009. Following his retirement, he held several senior administrative posts, including Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, and was appointed Governor of the Northern Province in December 2021 by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 38, has separately been released on bail in an ongoing related case in which he is accused of misusing public funds for overseas training at the same British naval institution in Dartmouth.
Karannagoda has previously faced multiple allegations related to human rights violations. He was sanctioned by the United Kingdom in March 2025 over accusations of serious human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings during his tenure as navy commander.
In 2023, the United States also imposed a travel ban on him under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State appropriations law, citing what it described as credible allegations of gross human rights violations.
He also faces separate allegations in connection with the abduction and killing of 11 young men in Colombo between 2008 and 2009. Those charges were dropped in October 2021 but were later revived under the current administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, elected in 2024 on an anti-corruption platform.
Since taking office, the Dissanayake administration has moved to reopen several high-profile cases involving members of the Rajapaksa family and their associates, many of which remain before the courts.
Yoshitha Rajapaksa is also facing a separate prosecution for failing to adequately explain the source of funds used to purchase property during his father’s presidency between 2005 and 2015.
-ENCL/Agencies
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