Former Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa arrested

Former Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and his wife have been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over allegations of misusing funds amounting to over Rs. 6.1 million in 2014.

Police Spokesman SSP Buddhika Manatunga said that the former minister and his wife were arrested by the CID this evening (22).

The reason for the arrests, he said, was due to the then minister obtaining a sum of over Rs. 6.1 million from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) under the guise of providing relief to the people displaced by floods in Bingiriya and Narammala areas in 2014, and instead using the funds for presidential election campaigning activities in 2015. 

He stated that it has been uncovered that the ex-minister has committed criminal misappropriation of funds and offences under the Public Properties Act through this. 

Accordingly, they were arrested this evening following the advise of the Attorney General and will be produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court tomorrow (23), the police spokesman said. 

The CID is conducting further investigations into the allegations.