Former education minister arrested over staff deployed to his fuel station

The former Sri Lankan minister and senior United National Party figure Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption over allegations that state employees were used for his personal business.

Kariyawasam was arrested after appearing before the commission on 5 August to give a statement in connection with the investigation, AdaDerana reported.

The allegations concern four employees recruited to the Office of the Presidents Senior Advisor for Administrative Affairs (Decentralised Administration) while Kariyawasam held that position. Three were allegedly deployed to work at a fuel station he owns, while a fourth was reportedly not carrying out duties at the office to which he had been assigned.

The commission alleges that salaries and allowances continued to be paid to all four despite their performing duties unrelated to their official assignments, causing an estimated loss to the state of 2,768,836 rupees.

Kariyawasam was appointed Senior Advisor to the President on Decentralised Administration on 29 July 2022 by the then president Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Daily Mirror reported. A prominent figure in Wickremesinghes UNP, he served as education minister from 2015 to 2019, held the post of UNP general secretary and was president of the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, a trade union affiliated with the party.

He is due to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrates Court.

The arrest is the latest in a widening series of cases brought against former ministers and senior officials since the National Peoples Power came to power on an anti-corruption platform. The commissions powers were broadened under the Anti-Corruption Act of 2023, and its enforcement record now feeds directly into International Monetary Fund assessments, with governance reform among the conditions attached to Sri Lankas bailout programme.

Critics have argued, however, that the drive has fallen more heavily on figures from previous administrations than on the governments own. The decision to back the energy minister Kumara Jayakody, who faced indictment over alleged misappropriation, and to oppose a parliamentary no-confidence motion calling for his resignation, drew accusations of hypocrisy from anti-corruption campaigners, including some within the NPPs own support base.