The Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption today filed action against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 7 others for unlawfully authorizing the establishing of a floating armoury. 

Director General of the Commission Dilrukshi Dias Wickremesinghe said that Avant Garde Maritime Services had earned a sum of Rs 11.4 billion as a result of being allowed to maintain a floating armory.

The other seven persons include former Additional Secretary of the State Ministry of Defence Damayanthi Jayaratne, Major General Palitha Fernando, Major General K.B. Egodawela, former Navy Commanders Admiral Somathilake Dissanayake, Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Admiral Jayantha Perera and Avant Garde Chairman retired Major General Nissanka Senadhipathi. 

The case of the “floating armoury” had come to light after the Sri Lankan Navy boarded the vessel on October 6, 2015 to discover a massive stash of weapons on board. 

There have been allegations that the Avant Garde Maritime Services was unduly favoured by the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and as a result caused losses to the Sri Lankan Navy. 

In November, the Sri Lankan Navy took over the ships cargo of more than 816 automatic rifles of different types and 2,02,674 rounds of ammunition.

The Colombo Magistrate Court had terminated the proceedings of the Avant Garde case after the Criminal Investigations Department(CID) informed courts that it would not go ahead with the case under the instructions of the Attorney General.

The former Defence Secretary was questioned by the CID over the issue and the court also had imposed a travel ban which had been later lifted.

The Bribery Commission had decided to launch an investigation into the floating armoury of the Private Security Firm based on the Attorney General’s observation that action could be initiated against the company over charges of bribery and money laundering.