Colombo: Sri Lanka’s only World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga is set to be arrested.
Officials of Sri Lanka’s corruption watchdog told a court on Monday they want to take Arjuna under custody on corruption charges dating back to his stint as Petroleum minister.
Arjuna, 62, and his elder brother Dhammika Ranatunga are accused of changing procedure for awarding long-term oil procurement contracts, making spot purchases at a higher cost, reported AFP.
The total loss to the state from 27 purchases is 800 million Sri Lankan rupees (approx Rs 23.5 crore) at the time the deals were made in 2017, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABC) submitted.
Since Arjuna was abroad, be will be arrested on his return, the commission told Colombo Magistrate Asanga Bodaragama
Dhammika Ranatunga, then chairman of the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, was arrested on Monday before being released on bail.
A travel ban was imposed on Dhammika, a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the United States.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 13.
Arjuna’s men lifted the 1996 World Cup, held in the subcontinent, after Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the final.
The case against the Ranatunga brothers is part of a wider crackdown by the government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who came to power last year on a pledge to tackle endemic corruption.
Prasanna, another Ranatunga brother and a former Tourism minister, was arrested last month over an insurance fraud case. He was convicted in June 2022 for extorting money from a businessman, and is on a two-year suspended prison term.
