More details revealed on death of FinMin official interdicted over $2.5M cyber fraud

Assistant Director of the External Resources Department of the Ministry of Finance, Ranga Rajapaksa, who had been interdicted over the alleged USD 2.5 million cyber heist, was found dead under suspicious circumstances at his residence in Kuliyapitiya this evening (30).

Kuliyapitiya Police said they received information this afternoon that Rajapaksa had been found dead. According to police, Rajapaksa’s daughter noticed him lying in the garden and alerted her mother, who then informed the authorities.

Accordingly, officers who arrived at the scene observed a fairly large bloodstain near a banana tree in his garden. 

Police also noted that Rajapaksa had sustained three cuts on one leg and another injury to his arm, while a small knife was recovered from the vicinity of the body.

Authorities have launched an investigation, treating the incident as a suspicious death, with inquiries underway to determine whether it was a homicide, a suicide or accidental. 

The Kuliyapitiya Magistrate visited the scene and conducted a magisterial inquiry, police said.

Rajapaksa had been summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on three occasions in connection with the ongoing probe into the alleged cyber breach involving USD 2.5 million belonging to the Ministry of Finance. 

He had been summoned to the CID once while in service and twice after being interdicted.

He had cooperated with investigators each time, and his computer had also been taken into custody by the CID, officials said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the initial transfer of funds to a bank account provided by the hackers through a fraudulent email has occurred due to negligence on his part. 

He was also reportedly the officer who had responded to the initial email communication sent by the hackers. 

A court order had further imposed an overseas travel ban on him, police said.

Initial investigations into his background revealed that he was not an officer with previous corruption allegations and that there was no evidence to support his arrest, according to the investigating officers. 

However, it is reported that he had been under significant distress following his suspension from the service.

A senior police officer also noted that Rajapaksa’s death poses a serious setback to the ongoing investigations regarding the cyber theft.