Prison with hard labor for two ministers in Sri Lanka on charges of corruption news

Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents

Colombo- A high court in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, sentenced two former ministers to imprison long periods with hard labor, after being convicted of a corruption case related to the import of sports equipment, which caused great losses to the public treasury.

The court sentenced former Sports Minister Mahandanda Alutagamagi to 20 years in prison with hard labor, while former Minister of Commerce, Anil Fernando, received a 25 -year prison sentence with hard labor.

The case is due to the import operations that took place between September 1 and December 31, 2014, and resulted in losses of about 53.1 million Sri Lankan rupees (about 177 thousand US dollars) incurred by the government.

The ruling came in a new political context in the country, as Anura Kumara Desianaki took over the position of President of the Republic at the end of last year, and his leftist party won the national power of the majority in the parliamentary elections.

During its election campaign, the party focused on promises to hold corrupt politicians accountable in previous governments, and to bring them to justice, which was considered by observers a major reason for its victory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_isq_n4nos

In a parallel development, former minister Allowaghamagi faces another corruption issue dating back to the period of assuming the Ministry of Agriculture in the previous government, where he is accused of facilitating the opening letters of accreditation for fertilizers from China Without obtaining the required organizational approvals, and this, according to the indictment, caused the state to lose an estimated 1.3 billion rupees (about 4.3 million US dollars).

It is mentioned that Sri Lanka She suffered from a suffocating economic crisis in 2022, which caused the outbreak of widespread popular protests against the government, which ended at the time of the president’s escape, Gotabaya Rajapaxa, from the country.

In the wake of this crisis, the country witnessed presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of last year, which resulted in the arrival of the national power of the people to power, pledging to root and accountability.