Sri Lankan ex-official targeted with fabricated remarks on former leader's alleged bribe

Published on April 13, 2026 at 11:30
2 min read
By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka

After the former head of Sri Lanka's national carrier admitted in March 2026 to bribing the country's ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa in a deal to purchase Airbus aircraft, a fabricated report has circulated on social media that falsely claimed that one of his ex-cabinet members defended the former leader by saying he spent the bribe on charity. The ex-minister told AFP he did not make the comment, and a spokesperson for the outlet that supposedly reported on his remarks said they did not publish the news graphic shared in the posts.

"Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa spent the entire 60 million (Sri Lankan rupees) on charitable activities -- Sarath Weerasekera," reads a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on March 20 by a page that routinely posts content supportive of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition, the National People's Power (archived link).

The attached graphic mimics the style of Sri Lankan media outlet Ada Derana, and contains text that repeats the false claim along with a picture of Weerasekera, who served as the public security minister in Rajapaksa's government (archived here and here).

Screenshot of the false post taken on April 13 with red Xs added by AFP

The posts circulated after Kapila Chandrasena -- former CEO of the country's national carrier SriLankan Airlines -- admitted on March 19 in a Colombo court that he paid Rajapaksa 60 million Sri Lankan rupees in kickbacks to approve the purchase of 10 Airbus planes in a $2.3 billion deal (archived link).

Representatives for the country's bribery commission told the court that Chandrasena had admitted to paying Rajapaksa the money -- worth $461,000 at the time -- in three instalments in 2013 while he headed the airline.

Chandrasena is also accused of conspiring to accept $16 million from Airbus, though he allegedly only received around $1.7 million.

Comments on the false posts indicate that many users appeared to believe Weerasekera defended the former president over the case.

"Did they make merit using stolen money, a despicable creature," one user wrote.

"You don't earn merit by doing good deeds with other people's money. The president is just a thief, isn't he? Have you no shame at all? You ruined the country while dressed in white," said another.

Similar posts sharing the same graphic circulated elsewhere on Facebook, but it is in fact fabricated.

Fabricated remarks

Poornima Ayuwardana, a news editor at Ada Derana, told AFP via WhatsApp on April 9 that the circulating posts are "fake" as the fonts are different.

Weerasekera also told AFP via WhatsApp on April 3: "I have never mentioned anything regarding the alleged 60 million."

He separately denied making the comment in a Facebook post on March 20, calling it "fake news" (archived link).

A reverse image search on Google found a news report by Ada Derana published on October 12, 2023 with the same picture of Weerasekera seen in the false post (archived link).

It reported on Weerasekera hosting a press conference on that day, where he announced a special report about Sri Lanka's conflict would be submitted to the president.

It does not mention him defending Rajapaksa over the alleged kickback in the Airbus deal.

Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original Ada Derana report

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation targeting Sri Lanka's opposition.

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