Sri Lanka ex-leader's brother remanded over fraud

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan magistrate remanded the youngest brother of former president Mahinda Rajapakse (pix) Wednesday for "misappropriating" public funds, hours after the ex-leader accused his successor of a witch-hunt.
Former economic development minister Basil Rajapakse was remanded for two weeks after being questioned for more than seven hours, his lawyer Udaya Rohan de Silva told AFP, adding that the charge was for a non-bailable offence.
"The government has prejudged the case and carried out this arrest," Basil told reporters as he was driven away from the magistrate's court at Kaduwela, a suburb of the capital.
Two senior officials who worked under Basil were also arrested on charges that the three of them were responsible for a 70 million rupee (US$530,000) fraud involving the construction of public housing.
Hundreds of supporters shouted anti-government slogans after the bail hearing, but celebratory firecrackers were also set off in and around the capital as news of Basil's arrest was broadcast.
The new government of Maithripala Sirisena, which came to power on a pledge to fight corruption during Mahinda Rajapakse's decade-long rule, has accused him and his inner circle of syphoning off billions of dollars by inflating the size of foreign-funded infrastructure projects.
Mahinda is himself under investigation over a bribery charge and is due to be questioned by anti-graft detectives on Friday.
Another brother Gotabhaya, the former defence secretary, is also under investigation in connection with several frauds involving the purchase of military and civilian aircraft as well as arms deals.
All the brothers have denied any wrongdoing and the former president told AFP in an interview earlier Wednesday that the investigations amounted to a "witch-hunt".
"They have no evidence. They are making wild allegations. This is a witch-hunt," Rajapakse told AFP at his home in a suburb of Colombo, where he is protected by police and military guards.
"Neither I nor any member of my family has ill-gotten money. At first, they said I had money in Swaziland, then in Dubai. Show us the money, where is the evidence?
"They said I owned a hotel in Dubai. Then they said all the hotels in Sri Lanka are owned by me and (brothers) Gota (Gotabhaya) and Basil," Rajapakse said. "This is a joke."
Gotabhaya, who was seen as the real power behind the throne, is due to be grilled by anti-graft investigators on Thursday although he has requested a delay.
Basil, who has dual Sri Lankan-American citizenship, had fled to the United States soon after his brother Mahinda lost the Jan 8 election to Sirisena.
Sirisena, who served in Rajapakse's cabinet before quitting to stand against his one-time mentor, had made fighting corruption a key campaign plank and had been criticised for slow action against alleged culprits. – AFP