COOMBO: Sri Lanka’s immigration chief was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday, the latest top official jailed under the government’s anti-corruption drive.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has revived corruption cases against members of the former administrations of the two Rajapaksa brothers – Mahinda and Gotabaya, and purged several top officials.
In the latest case, Harsha Ilukpitiya pleaded guilty to ignoring court orders to end a multi-million dollar contract that outsourced visa services to a foreign consortium.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court handed down the two-year sentence to Ilukpitiya – who has already spent a year in custody – for contempt.
The case centered on a visa handling contract awarded by the previous government, which replaced a local provider charging one dollar per visa with a foreign consortium that raised the fee to $25.
