Wave of Investigations Targets Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa Dynasty

In Colombo, a Sri Lankan court has extended the detention of the wife of powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. She was arrested last week on allegations that her charity misused donations intended for a children's hospital.

The arrest of Shiranthi Rajapaksa, 73, on October 7 delivered a heavy blow to a family that held power for nearly two decades until it was toppled in a youth-led uprising in 2022.

A month before Shiranthi's arrest, her son, MP Namal Rajapaksa, 40, who serves as national organiser of the family-controlled Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), was arrested on bribery charges. He remains in custody.

Who are the Rajapaksas?

The family is based in Hambantota district, a stronghold in southern Sri Lanka, with Mahinda, 80, as its formidable patriarch.

Elected prime minister in 2004 and president a year later, Mahinda was beloved by many in the Sinhala Buddhist majority for crushing Tamil separatist rebels in a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009.

During the campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had sought a separate state in northern Sri Lanka, Mahinda's brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa served as defence minister.

According to UN estimates, nearly 40,000 civilians were killed in the final weeks of the civil war, leading to an international investigation into allegations of atrocities. After the war, Mahinda was criticised for not doing enough to reconcile with Tamils, who were barred from commemorating those killed in the conflict.

Under Mahinda, Sri Lanka, a nation of 22 million people, also borrowed nearly $7bn from China for infrastructure projects, many of which were alleged to be tainted by corruption.

Although he changed the law to allow himself to run for a third presidential term, Mahinda lost the 2015 election to former political ally Maithripala Sirisena.

After the 2019 Easter bombings at churches and hotels, blamed on an ISIL (ISIS) affiliate, Gotabaya, then a political newcomer, used anti-Muslim rhetoric to win the presidential election - the second member of the family to hold the office.

Gotabaya appointed Mahinda as prime minister and handed key ministerial posts to his other brothers, Chamal and Basil, as well as Mahinda's son Namal Rajapaksa.

As the family tightened its grip on the island, first hit by the 2019 bombings and then by the COVID-19 pandemic, they were also accused of economic mismanagement and widespread corruption.

The economic crisis sparked historic street protests in the summer of 2022, forcing Gotabaya to flee the country. An interim government ran the country until the 2024 election brought Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 57, a Marxist, to the presidency on an anti-corruption platform and a pledge to act against the Rajapaksa family and previous administrations.

What are the corruption allegations against the family?

The arrests and ongoing legal cases against members of the Rajapaksa family are seen as part of that pledge.

Former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa was arrested last week by the government's Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

The Siriliya Saviya charity she led is accused of misusing nearly 100 million rupees (about $30,000) in donations intended to buy equipment for a children's hospital in the capital, Colombo.

Investigators told the court that an MRI scanner had been funded by the Chinese government, but the charity continued to solicit donations for a scanner and misused the money.

Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of the Rajapaksa-led SLPP, denied the allegation.

"That is not true and the money is still safe in Siriliya Saviya's frozen bank account," he told Al Jazeera.

But CIABOC told the court that its investigation showed the money had been used to buy a house and that it would take steps to seize the property.

On Monday, her lawyer sought bail on health grounds. But the request was rejected. On Tuesday, Shiranthi was produced before a court, which extended her detention until Friday.

Meanwhile, Mahinda's son Namal is on trial in a case related to an alleged $30,000 bribe in a government deal with Airbus to buy aircraft for the national carrier.

He also faces another investigation over alleged involvement in a $211,000 bribe paid by a foreign private company to expedite a government land transfer.

Both cases are said to have occurred during his father's presidency.

Mahinda's other son, Yoshitha, 38, is also under investigation for money laundering, while Shasheendra Rajapaksa, 50, the son of Chamal Rajapaksa, is currently out on bail in a corruption case.

In addition, Basil, another of the Rajapaksa brothers, faces an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court in a case related to the purchase of property allegedly with illicit funds. He is believed to be in the United States.

Last week, the Financial Crimes Investigation Division seized Basil's assets in Matara, a coastal town in the south.

What other allegations does the family face?

But corruption cases are not the only ones dogging the powerful family.

Gotabaya is barred from travelling abroad over allegations that the 2019 Easter bombings were staged to boost his standing ahead of that year's presidential election.

Last week, a Sri Lankan court dismissed his appeal to prevent his possible arrest in an ongoing investigation into the simultaneous bombings of three churches and three hotels, which killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners, in the worst such attack on the tourism-famous island.

In 2023, a whistleblower told the UK's Channel 4 that former Sri Lankan intelligence chief Suresh Salley had met the alleged 2019 bombers as part of a plot to influence the upcoming election.

Gotabaya announced his candidacy two days after the attacks, and his campaign focused on opposing "Islamic extremism". Salley was arrested in February this year under anti-terrorism laws and is being investigated over the Easter bombings.

Ramindu Perera, an international law researcher at the European University Institute in Italy, said that if allegations linking the Rajapaksa family to the 2019 attacks were proven, it would have a "devastating" impact on the family.

"Such revelations are likely to further discredit the SLPP's standing in Sri Lankan politics," he said. The party has been reduced to just three seats in the 225-member parliament.

Last month, a Sri Lankan High Court convicted 15 of 24 Muslim men accused in connection with the 2019 bombings, but families of many victims say they are still waiting for the "masterminds" to be held accountable.

How are Sri Lankans reacting to the investigations?

Speaking at a public rally in Nikawerariya, northwestern Sri Lanka, on Sunday, President Dissanayake said the law would be applied equally to everyone.

"Those who gained social power, political power and positional power used those powers to stand above the law. But under this government, the law is equal for everyone," he said.

"If anyone believes the law will not reach them, we are proving that there is nowhere the law cannot reach and no one stands above the arm of the law," he added.

But the SLPP's Kariyawasam accused the government of deceiving the people.

"We have no problem with a thief being punished after wrongdoing is proven," he told Al Jazeera.

"But the government is putting people in detention without a court trial, then telling the people that they are punishing thieves. This is purely a political witch-hunt."

Researcher Perera said demands for accountability in corruption cases were the main slogan that brought Dissanayake to power.

"Since anti-corruption action is at the core of the NPP government's mandate, what is happening should be seen as an effort to fulfil that mandate," he told Al Jazeera, referring to Dissanayake's National People's Power party.

Political analyst Gamini Viyangoda also rejected Kariyawasam's claim. "This is not a political witch-hunt, but the enforcement of the rule of law."