Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam has launched a pointed attack on the Bribery Commission, questioning whether the country’s top anti-corruption body is drifting into dangerous political territory.

At the centre of the storm: the high-stakes Airbus deal probe involving SriLankan Airlines – and the arrest of former CEO Kapila Chandrasena over alleged bribe-taking linked to the aircraft purchase.

Kariyawasam says the issue is not the investigation itself – but how it is being conducted.

Parliament, he reminded, strengthened the Commission in 2023, handing it sweeping powers on the understanding it would act independently, not politically.
“We backed this institution in good faith,” he said. “It must not become a tool to settle political scores.”

The SLPP’s concern sharpens around a serious allegation: that a suspect in the Airbus case was pressured by the Commission’s Director General to sign a statement implicating politicians.

If true, it cuts to the core of due process.

Kariyawasam openly questioned whether the probe is being shaped to fit earlier political claims – including statements made in Parliament by Bimal Rathnayake – rather than being driven purely by evidence.

“We are asking whether this is justice – or narrative- building,” he said.

He went further – reviving past allegations made by the late Nandana Gunathilaka against the same official, claims he says were never properly investigated.

The implication is clear: who watches the watchdog?