{"id":44957,"date":"2016-02-01T00:03:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T04:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44957"},"modified":"2016-02-01T01:57:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T05:57:15","slug":"mahinda-rajapaksa-with-eyes-in-tears-says-arrest-of-son-yoshitha-these-are-acts-of-revenge-against-me-by-dharisha-bastians-and-geeta-anandjan-sri-lankan-authorities-arrested-a-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=44957","title":{"rendered":"Teary-Eyed Mahinda Rajapaksa says Arrest of son Yoshitha is “Act of Revenge Against me”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy DHARISHA BASTIANS and GEETA ANANDJAN.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan authorities arrested a son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on money-laundering charges on Saturday, the government\u2019s latest attempt to prosecute members of the previous administration, many of whom have been under investigation since Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s election defeat last year.<\/p>\n

The police said Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s 27-year-old son, Yoshitha, a lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy, had been questioned for six hours by investigators from the Financial Crimes Investigations Division about allegations of misappropriation of funds at a television channel that is widely believed to be owned by the Rajapaksa family. The family has denied that it owns the channel.<\/p>\n

The police said they had questioned Yoshitha Rajapaksa and four directors of the Carlton Sports Network, including its chairman, Rohan Welivita, who currently serves as the former president\u2019s spokesman.
\nAfter the questioning, a magistrate rejected Lieutenant Rajapaksa\u2019s bail application and ordered that he be detained for 14 days.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week, a government minister told lawmakers that a navy investigation had revealed that Lieutenant Rajapaksa had been inappropriately promoted and allowed to attend training programs in Britain and Ukraine, at the government\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Lieutenant Rajapaksa is the second member of his family to be arrested since the current government took over in January 2015. Basil Rajapaksa, a brother of the former president and a former economic development minister, was arrested last April on charges of misappropriating public funds, which he denies.<\/p>\n

The former president\u2019s eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa, and his youngest brother, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who served as the country\u2019s defense secretary from 2005 to 2015, are also the subjects of corruption investigations.<\/p>\n

But despite the many investigations of members of the former government, few people have been formally charged with crimes, leading critics to accuse the current government of dragging its feet. Saturday\u2019s arrest could be a sign that the investigations are being wrapped up.<\/p>\n

In addition to the money-laundering accusation, the police say that Lieutenant Rajapaksa and two other relatives are under investigation in connection with the death of a star Sri Lankan rugby player, Wasim Thajudeen. Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly asserted that his son is innocent, and on Saturday he was defiant.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cArrest my sons, my wife, my brothers,\u201d Mr. Rajapaksa said at a political meeting in Matale, several hours\u2019 drive from Colombo, the capital. \u201cI will not be moved. All these things will only strengthen the Rajapaksa brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, after his son was transferred to a Colombo prison, Mr. Rajapaksa accused the government of conducting a witch hunt against his family. Teary-eyed, he said the charges filed against his son were \u201cflimsy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all acts of revenge against me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The law on money-laundering, under which his son was accused, was introduced to track terrorists\u2019 funds, Mr. Rajapaksa said. \u201cI defeated the terrorists,\u201d he said. \u201cToday they are using the same laws to arrest my son.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In 2009, Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group that was fighting to create a separate state in the island\u2019s north and east. But his administration stands accused of committing war crimes during a brutal final military campaign against the rebels and engaging in corruption to benefit his extended family.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajapaksa was defeated a year ago by Maithripala Sirisena, a defector from Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s party who promised to clean up the government and investigate allegations of war crimes.<\/p>\n

The former president appears eager to return to power, threatening to break from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which is now led by Mr. Sirisena.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajapaksa currently serves as a lawmaker in Sri Lanka\u2019s national legislature and is believed to be behind a group that opposes Mr. Sirisena\u2019s decision to lead the Freedom Party in a national coalition with the opposition United National Party.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:New York Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By DHARISHA BASTIANS and GEETA ANANDJAN. Sri Lankan authorities arrested a son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on money-laundering charges on Saturday, the government\u2019s latest attempt to prosecute members of the previous administration, many of whom have been under investigation since Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s election defeat last year. The police said Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s 27-year-old son, Yoshitha, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Teary-Eyed Mahinda Rajapaksa says Arrest of son Yoshitha is “Act of Revenge Against me”’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44960,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44957\/revisions\/44960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}