Mahinda Rajapaksa's son granted bail; brother arrested by Sri Lanka police

COLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa's eldest son was today granted bail but was banned to travel abroad by a court here over allegedly accepting $500,000 from an Indian firm in connection with a multi-million dollar real-estate project in the heart of Colombo.

Namal Rajapaksa, a member of parliament, was arrested last week and kept under remand custody till today, becoming the second son of the former president to be remanded over financial irregularity.

Among the bail conditions by the magistrate court here were a ban on his foreign travel and permission for the police's Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to peruse his bank accounts.

Namal, 30, has been charged with misappropriating 70 million rupees ($500,000) in connection with the deal with India's Krrish Group, which had in 2013 signed an agreement to start a $650 million real-estate venture in Colombo's central business district of Fort.

The case will be next taken up on August 8.

Namal's younger brother Yoshitha, who was previously arrested by FCID over another business deal involving a sports television channel, is currently on bail after being in remand.

Almost at the same time as the bailing out of Namal, Rajapaksa's younger brother Basil was arrested by the FCID this morning over allegations of wrongdoing in the Divinaguma or the livelihoods fund which he administered under his elder brother's presidency.

Basil is also currently on bail over a similar case filed in April this year.

The Rajapaksa family has faced many accusations of wrongdoing during the 10 years of the former strongman's rule.

The family has branded the cases against them as a 'political witch-hunt' by the Rajapaksa successor Maithripala Sirisena's unity government.