Minister of Law and Order and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayake says that through the scrutiny of company emails had uncovered the connection between former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha and CSN, which is being probed by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID).

The FCID commenced investigations on March 15, 2015 according to a complaint submitted by the the ‘Citizens for a Just Society’ to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) accusing the Carlton Sports Network (CSN) of money laundering and misuse of state property. 

Initially the FCID had investigated the initial capital of Rs 234 million raised to establish the CSN television channel, he said in a statement today.

“It was uncovered that the initial number of shares of the company was 700,004 at a value of Rs 7 million. Investigations had revealed that the remaining capital was raised through fake transactions and illegal action carried out from a foreign country.”

The probe uncovered that a transaction of US$ 2.3 million through a company based in a foreign country was responsible for the remainder of the required initial capital, the minister said. 

The FCID investigations have reached the conclusion that the initial capital was raised with money obtained through money laundering, he said. 

According to company documents, all shareholders are initial directors and they include Rohan Weliwita, Kavishan Dissanayake, Ravinath Fernando, Shadiya Karunajeewa.

Nishantha Ranatunga had operated as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company while upon examining the emails sent with regard to company transactions, it was uncovered that navy Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa operated as the Chairman and main decision maker of the company, Ratnayake said. 

He further said that the statements given by the suspects have failed to prove their innocence.

The Minister said that indictments are to be presented to the Attorney General (AG) to file a case with the High Court after all investigations are completed.