Former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena found dead amid Airbus corruption case

Colombo: Former SriLankan Airlines chief executive Kapila Chandrasena, who was facing corruption charges linked to the purchase of Airbus aircraft, was found dead on Friday, according to police.

Chandrasena’s body was discovered at the Colombo residence of a relative, police said, adding that an investigation was under way into the circumstances surrounding his death.

“We are investigating the cause of death and the circumstances,” a police officer told AFP.

Chandrasena had been remanded in custody in March after being accused of conspiring to accept a $16 million bribe connected to a $2.3 billion aircraft procurement deal involving 10 Airbus planes.

According to investigators, Chandrasena had allegedly stated after his arrest that part of the money was paid to former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and former aviation minister Piyankara Jayaratne.

Rajapaksa, who served as president between 2005 and 2015, and members of his family have previously faced a number of corruption allegations, all of which they have denied as politically motivated.

Chandrasena had been released from remand custody on Tuesday. However, a court ordered his re-arrest on Thursday after prosecutors alleged that he had bribed two individuals in connection with securing bail.

Sri Lanka’s bribery commission told the court earlier this year that Chandrasena admitted paying Rajapaksa 60 million Sri Lankan rupees in 2013, worth about $480,000 at the time — while serving as head of the national carrier.

The alleged payments were said to have occurred as the airline sought cabinet approval for the multi-billion-dollar aircraft deal with Airbus.

A spokesperson for Rajapaksa rejected the accusations.

SriLankan Airlines has long struggled financially and was carrying estimated accumulated losses of 596 billion rupees as of the end of March last year. Efforts to privatise the carrier have so far failed to attract buyers.

Chandrasena had also been arrested in a separate case in 2020 before later being granted bail.

That same year, authorities in the United States, Britain and France identified him during a joint investigation into Airbus business dealings.

In 2020, a French court approved a settlement under which Airbus agreed to pay nearly $4 billion in penalties to authorities in France, Britain and the United States to resolve corruption investigations.

British investigators had accused Airbus of failing to prevent individuals linked to the company from bribing employees or directors of SriLankan Airlines in order to secure business advantages.

In December 2024, the United States government imposed sanctions on Chandrasena over allegations that he accepted bribes from Airbus.