Development Lotteries Board vehicle rental corruption cases
Current status of the Development Lotteries Board vehicle rental corruption cases
Corruption prosecutions arising from Development Lotteries Board vehicle-rental payments during 2006-2007. Validation research found 18 convictions across four corruption cases, rather than only four counts.
What’s happened
4 appeal petitions filed to the Court of Appeal (approx. 1 Jul 2026) seeking acquittal. On 25 September 2026, Chinari (Lakmanthi) Hettiarachchi (Gunawardena's wife) was arrested and remanded by CIABOC over an allegation she paid a Rs. 50,000 bribe to a Colombo High Court office assistant to influence a judge toward imposing a suspended sentence on Gunawardena. The Island explicitly ties this to the present matter, reporting that it 'follows the Colombo High Court sentencing Gunawardena to 16 years' rigorous imprisonment in June' - confirming the case link that earlier reports had left unspecified. The mechanism (e.g. whether this concerns his pending Court of Appeal petitions or a separate bail/sentence-suspension application) is still not detailed in any source. This development concerns his wife's alleged conduct, not a new charge or custody change for Gunawardena himself.
- Court
- Colombo High Court (trial); Court of Appeal (appeal)
- Sentence
- 18 convictions across four corruption cases. Four years per guilty charge nominally produced 72 years; terms within each case run concurrently, while the four effective four-year case sentences run consecutively, producing an effective 16-year term. Rs.100,000 fine per conviction (Rs.1.8m total).
- Next hearing / due
- Next hearing not confirmed
Development Lotteries Board vehicle rental corruption cases timeline
- 9 June 2026
Convicted
Sarana Gunawardena was convicted in the matter concerning Development Lotteries Board vehicle-rental payments during 2006-2007. Validation research found 18 convictions across four corruption cases, rather than only four counts. The reported sentence was 18 convictions across four corruption cases. Four years per guilty charge nominally produced 72 years; terms within each case run concurrently, while the four effective four-year case sentences run consecutively, producing an effective 16-year term. Rs.100,000 fine per conviction (Rs.1.8m total).
Court: Colombo High Court (trial); Court of Appeal (appeal)