Corruption investigation into Sri Lankan airlines to focus on termination of Emirates deal
Founded in 1979, the airline was profitable until the government of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse kicked out the management team from the UAE carrier
Sri Lanka has ordered a corruption investigation into its national carrier, including the controversial termination of a management deal with Emirates airline, the government said on Saturday.
President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a five-member panel to investigate the financial transactions of Sri Lankan airlines from 2006 to 2008, when the deal with Emirates was ended, a statement from his office said.
Sri Lankan, founded in 1979 as Air Lanka, was profitable until the government of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ran the country from 2005 to 2015, kicked out the Emirates management team.
The deal was cancelled in 2008 after Emirates refused to bump fare-paying business class passengers to give the seats to Rajapakse’s family, who were returning to Colombo from London.
A furious Rajapakse removed the Emirates-appointed chief executive of Sri Lankan from his post and put his brother-in-law, who had no aviation industry experience, in charge of the airline.
Since then, Sri Lankan airlines has sunk into the red, with an estimated loss of more than US$1 billion and debts of US$3.2 billion.