LNW, Colombo, June 19 – The arrest and remand of former Presidential Private Secretary Sugeeshwara Bandara has reignited public outrage over the misuse of state funds, while simultaneously dragging the integrity of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Chairman into the spotlight.
Bandara, the leader of the New People’s Front, was arrested on Wednesday morning by the Central Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) and produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Thursday (18). The court ordered him to be remanded until July 1.
Investigations revealed that Bandara had drawn salaries from two government institutions simultaneously. While serving as Private Secretary to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022, he also held the post of Project Director at the Presidential Secretariat. Authorities allege he received a total of Rs. 6,051,790 in salaries and allowances during his tenure as Personal Secretary and an additional Rs. 4,226,884 as Director General of Special Projects. Investigators also revealed that Bandara facilitated the attachment of 135 officers to the Special Projects Division, with salaries and allowances for this staff amounting to Rs. 176,692,607. Between 2022 and 2024, he travelled abroad on eight occasions without proper approval and continued to receive salaries during those periods. A total of 16 vehicles were allocated to the division under his direction, with fuel coupons worth up to Rs. 265,000 per week issued without evidence of actual usage, totalling Rs. 18,680,000. Investigators pointed out that all 137 individuals attached to the project had been engaged in political activities.
The total expenditure incurred under former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s budget head amounts to Rs. 240,976,291.
Meanwhile, social media discourse engineered by Bandara’s sympathizers has alleged that even the incumbent Public Security Minister, Ananda Wijepala had drawn two salaries when he was a senior official at the anti-corruption secretariat from 2015 onward under the patronage of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. However, sources close to the Presidential Secretariat told LNW that Wijepala’s matter was debated in Parliament and there is no requirement to respond.
With this incident, another official has been dragged into public discourse, the current Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Professor Hareendra Dissabandara. Bandara was out on bail when he was appointed as SEC Chairman in October 2024 for misconduct which was widely reported in the press. One of the allegations was that he was drawing two salaries as well a few years ago.
His name is being dragged by various parties questioning the integrity of the SEC in the wake of recent scandals, including the Blue Ocean and NDB Bank fraud of Rs. 13.2 billion, and the hotly debated IPO of JXG where Atman Group, led by famous cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, had a windfall in a suspicious context. The NDB fraud, initially estimated at Rs. 380 million, was shockingly revised to Rs. 13.2 billion just days later. The scandal at publicly owned NDB Bank has not publicly evinced any concern from SEC Chairman Dissabandara.
Sources close to the Presidential Secretariat revealed that Bandara’s case was one of the incidents of the government’s anti-corruption drive. However, the same source revealed they are unaware of the allegations against Dissabandara and anyone can seek due process through law enforcement if they have done anything wrong.