Sri Lanka welcomes US sanctions on former ruling Rajapaksa family

Sri Lanka's new government Tuesday welcomed US sanctions against two senior figures from the former ruling Rajapaksa family over two notorious graft cases involving aircraft purchases.

Former ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga and former Sri Lankan Airlines chief Kapila Chandrasena were among 14 people sanctioned by Washington on Monday "to promote accountability for perpetrators of corruption".

Weeratunga is a first cousin of Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, both former presidents of the island nation, while Chandrasena is related to the clan by marriage.

Information minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the State Department action would be a "catalyst" to reexamine several corruption cases from the time the Rajapaksas were in power.

"We are reopening those old cases. We need some time to ensure proper investigations and bring these people to justice," he told reporters.

Weeratunga and Chandrasena will be barred from entering the United States as a result of the sanctions and US entities will also be banned from conducting any transactions with either man.

Their immediate family members have also been sanctioned.

Both men held their offices during Mahinda Rajapaksa's presidency, which ended in 2015.

"Weeratunga orchestrated and personally benefitted from a corrupt scheme involving the procurement of MiG aircraft for the Sri Lankan Air Force," the US sanctions notice said.

"Chandrasena accepted a bribe while serving in his capacity as Sri Lankan Airlines CEO in exchange for ensuring Sri Lanka purchased Airbus aircraft for over market value."

Legal action had been initiated against both years earlier, but there has been no progress in their prosecutions.

Chandrasena was accused of receiving a $2 million advance out of a bigger kickback in return for the 2013 purchase of eight A350 aircraft.

The Sri Lankan Air Force is alleged to have paid twice the price of four used Russian MiG fighter jets with the extra money going into private pockets.

Prominent anti-establishment newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge had exposed the MiG purchase as a corrupt transaction.

Wickrematunge was assassinated in January 2009, two days before he was due to appear as the defendant in a defamation case related to the scandal.

Days before his murder, he had told other Sri Lankan journalists he intended to lodge documents relating to the MiG purchase with the court to ensure they were in the public record.

At the time of the MiG deal, the defense ministry was helmed by Mahinda's younger brother Gotabaya, who was himself later elected president before his 2022 overthrow during an economic crisis.