Sri Lanka Arrests Ex-President's Son Over Airbus Deal

Sri Lanka's main anti-graft body arrested lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Friday in connection with a corruption probe into a 2013 Airbus aircraft purchase. 

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said the 40-year-old scion of the once-powerful Rajapaksa family "was summoned for questioning over the Airbus transaction".

"The MP



was arrested afterwards and will be taken before a magistrate," a commission official said. It was not immediately clear what charges Rajapaksa faces. 

His lawyer, Nishantha Dayananda, confirmed the arrest over the controversial $2.3-billion deal, which was eventually cancelled by a new government in 2016. CIABOC had questioned the former president himself in May over allegations that he had received kickbacks from the aircraft purchase.