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Krrish Rs. 70 million criminal breach of trust case

Last verified 1 October 2026
Namal Rajapaksa
Namal RajapaksaINDICTED
Recent development: Namal Rajapaksa named suspect in CIABOC Krrish bribery case and remanded to 6 October

Current status of the Krrish Rs. 70 million criminal breach of trust case

INDICTED

Criminal breach of trust - alleged misappropriation of Rs. 70 million provided by Krrish Group ostensibly to promote rugby in Sri Lanka (Colombo High Court indictment). A separate CIABOC investigation (Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court) alleges the same Rs. 70 million was a bribe paid for his help in expediting the Urban Development Authority's allocation of Transworks Square land in Colombo Fort to Krrish.

What’s happened

Indicted 28 Jan 2025 by the Attorney General's Department (originally arrested/remanded 11 Jul 2016; bail granted with Rs. 10 million sureties + Rs. 100,000 cash). On 24 September 2026, CIABOC arrested Janaki (Geethanjali) Siriwardena, a former Krrish Group executive director, over an allegation that she paid Rajapaksa Rs. 70 million in three instalments to secure his assistance expediting the Urban Development Authority's transfer of land at Transworks Square, Colombo Fort, for the Krrish project - the same underlying Rs. 70 million/Krrish/Fort land facts as this indicted matter, now also being pursued by CIABOC as a bribery allegation against the alleged payer. Siriwardena was remanded until 6 October 2026. The Chief Magistrate also ordered prison authorities to allow CIABOC to record a statement from Rajapaksa, who remains in remand in his separate Airbus-related matters, as part of this investigation. Siriwardena is not a politician and is not separately tracked on Nadu. No new charge, arrest, or change to Rajapaksa's own custody has resulted from this development in this matter. CIABOC subsequently carried out that questioning: Onlanka (citing the Bribery Commission) reported the statement was recorded on 25 September 2026, while India Today/PTI independently reported the questioning occurred on 26 September - this one-day discrepancy between sources is unresolved and both dates are recorded here rather than asserting one as definitive. Recording a statement is not itself an arrest, charge, indictment, conviction, or additional remand order in this matter. On 28 September 2026 CIABOC named Rajapaksa the fourth suspect in its Krrish bribery case before the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court (Siriwardena being the first suspect), alleging Rs. 70 million was paid to him on three occasions in return for helping Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd secure the UDA-owned Transworks Square land and expedite approvals. He was produced on 29 September 2026 and Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama remanded him until 6 October 2026 - the same date as Siriwardena - in this proceeding, separately from his Airbus-related remands (to 13 October). CIABOC's investigating officer told the court the Indian Government had communicated that funds used in the Krrish transaction were proceeds of money laundering, and that the Commission expects to move toward filing indictments; the defence argued a certificate issued under the new Anti-Corruption Act could not legally support proceedings for an offence charged under the former law. These are prosecution submissions and defence arguments, not findings; no charge has been filed in the CIABOC case and no court has found any payment was a bribe. Separately, the High Court indictment was served on 18 February 2025 before Judge Manjula Thilakaratne, with release on bail (Rs. 100,000 cash and two sureties of Rs. 10 million), and on 7 July 2026 Judge Nadee Aparna Suwandurugoda ordered summons to two Indian witnesses under the foreign-witness procedure, with the trial date set for 16 November 2026.

Court
Colombo High Court
Next hearing / due
6 October 2026
Sources (16)

How a state-controlled Fort site became the Krrish project, and why the Rs. 70 million paid to Namal Rajapaksa is now before two courts

The land deal and the money trail are separate questions. The record on the land is mostly settled: a Cabinet-backed, unsolicited proposal, a Central Bank lease that was cancelled, and a long lease signed only in 2015. The Rs. 70 million is contested: first charged as misappropriated rugby money, now alleged by CIABOC to be a bribe. No court has found either.

Krrish Group → Krrish Transworks Colombo → Rs. 70m (CIABOC alleges via Janaki Siriwardena) → Namal Rajapaksa (alleged, unproven)

Namal Rajapaksa
Indicted (Colombo High Court, trial 16 Nov 2026) and, since 29 Sept 2026, remanded in the separate CIABOC bribery case until 6 Oct 2026
Land
Transworks Square, Colombo Fort - UDA-controlled assemblage; 99-year lease, 3.7 acres, signed Oct 2015 (not 2012)
Central Bank
Held an executed lease for a car-park project; cancelled with its concurrence before 9 Nov 2012
Commitment fee
Rs. 499.5m (10% of the premium) paid 14 Sept 2012
Alleged payment
Rs. 70m to Namal Rajapaksa - rugby money (High Court) or bribe (CIABOC); unproven
Developer today
Court-supervised liquidation; project unfinished

Story last verified 1 October 2026.

What it cost Sri Lanka

The sums in this story are payments and claims, not losses attributed to anyone. None is a legal finding about the people named.

Cash actually paid

LKR 499.50m

Commitment fee paid to the UDA

Stated in Parliament as 10% of the lease premium, paid 14 Sept 2012. The lease premium was reported at about Rs. 5 billion.

Cash actually paid

LKR 100.48m

Central Bank lease premium paid to the UDA

Reported from the Cabinet memorandum as part of the premium for the car-park lease. Whether the bank received any refund or other consideration when the lease was cancelled is not public.

Claim / estimate

LKR 70.00m

Rs. 70 million alleged to have reached Namal Rajapaksa

Charged in the High Court as rugby money allegedly misappropriated, and alleged by CIABOC to be a bribe paid in three instalments. Unproven in both.

Money under recovery

INR 2.05bn

Proceeds of crime attached by India's ED in Colombo

Rs. 205 crore (about 2.05 billion Indian rupees) attached in January 2025 under India's money-laundering law, in a probe of the promoter's diversion of homebuyers' money. It does not itself concern the Rs. 70 million allegation.

Sources (7)

How the scheme worked

The site

Transworks Square sits in Colombo Fort between Chatham Street, Lotus Road, D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha and York Street. It was not one clean parcel. Reporting from the 2012 Cabinet memorandum describes a major portion of state land vested in the UDA, the colonial-era Transworks House (a former Public Works Department building of archaeological value) still being vested, a smaller CEB substation plot, and the remaining land split into three lots leased to the Central Bank and People's Bank. Survey plan, title and deed numbers are not in the public record.

The Central Bank's lease

The strongest evidence on the Central Bank is the government's own statement to Parliament on 9 November 2012: the lease executed with the bank was for a car-park project, it did not materialise, and it was cancelled with the bank's concurrence. The Cabinet memorandum, as reported in September 2012, said the banks had not developed their lots and that the Central Bank had paid Rs. 100.485 million of premium. That memorandum also proposed compensating the bank in perpetuity with 400 car spaces, 10 bus spaces and 3,000 square metres of commercial space; two months later the Government said the bank was no longer a party. When and why the plan changed, and what the bank received, are not public. Nothing located shows a Central Bank headquarters or other building plan that Krrish displaced.

An unsolicited proposal

The Government told Parliament the site had stayed undeveloped because of its encumbrances, and that earlier efforts to develop it jointly with the Central Bank had not materialised. The UDA then entertained an unsolicited proposal that it said arrived in response to its web advertisement, because the land was not readily available for a public tender. Krrish Group offered to develop everything except the substation plot, set up Krrish Transworks Colombo, and signed a memorandum of understanding. The proposal went to the UDA board, the BOI board and a Cabinet-appointed review committee, and Cabinet approved entering a lease subject to conditions and statutory approvals. The tax concessions were never fully perfected: in August 2015 the BOI said Krrish was one of five projects still at the gazette-notice stage without parliamentary approval of their concessions.

The fee was paid; the lease was not signed

On 14 September 2012 the company paid Rs. 499.5 million, 10% of the lease premium, as a commitment fee. On 9 November 2012 the Government told Parliament the lease had not been signed because the UDA was still vesting the heritage-building site and seeking final approvals. The project was publicised at over US$460 million, with towers, hotels, offices and a restored Transworks House.

The lease is signed, smaller

A UDA official and a Krrish official both confirmed to the Sunday Times in January 2016 that a lease had been signed in October 2015. It covered 3.7 acres, not the 4.3 acres first contemplated, because 0.6 acres had been leased temporarily to the two banks. The report said a dispute over the final payment of about Rs. 600 million had delayed the signing. Many later summaries say the lease dates from 2012; the 2012 Parliament statement and the 2016 report point to 2015.

The Rs. 70 million: the first case

In 2016 the FCID arrested Namal Rajapaksa over Rs. 70 million received from Krrish, said to be for rugby development, and he was remanded for about a week and bailed. In late January 2025 the Attorney General indicted him in the Colombo High Court for criminal breach of trust over the same money; he called it politically motivated. The indictment was served on 18 February 2025 before Judge Manjula Thilakaratne, who recused himself on 27 March 2025 over two social-media posts. Judge Nadee Aparna Suwandurugoda took the case, concluded the pre-trial on 29 May 2026, and on 7 July ordered summons to two Indian witnesses whom the CID could not reach, moving the trial to 16 November 2026. On the same day in March 2025 a Fort Magistrate asked the CID to seek the Attorney General's view on a further Krrish-related case; its outcome has not been located.

A second theory: a bribe

On 24 September 2026 CIABOC arrested former Krrish director Janaki Siriwardena and told the Chief Magistrate that she paid Rajapaksa Rs. 70 million in three instalments to speed up the UDA land transfer and approvals. The court let CIABOC record Rajapaksa's statement in prison. On 28 September he was named the fourth suspect, and on 29 September the Chief Magistrate remanded him until 6 October, the same date as Siriwardena. CIABOC said India had communicated that illicit money had been used in the Krrish building project, that the Central Bank had invested about Rs. 150 million in the property before it was made available through the UDA, and that it expects to indict. The suspects numbered two and three have not been named in reports. His lawyers argued a certificate under the new Anti-Corruption Act could not support proceedings for an offence charged under the former law. No charge has been filed in this case.

What is and is not established

No court has found that the lease was unlawful, that the Rs. 70 million was misappropriated, or that it was a bribe. Nothing in the record shows Rajapaksa owned or leased the land; the lessee was Krrish Transworks Colombo. The project is unfinished: a creditor's petition led to a winding-up order reported around August 2024, and in January 2026 the liquidator invited offers for the project and the leasehold, while the UDA has said it does not presently intend to repossess the site. In January 2025 India's Enforcement Directorate attached Rs. 205 crore of proceeds of crime in Colombo, described as land of about four acres and the building on it, in its probe of the promoter's diversion of Indian homebuyers' money.

The money trail

Every reported money movement in this case, in one place — expand a source list to see where each one is reported.

People involved

Namal Rajapaksa

Politician - indicted; CIABOC suspect

Namal Rajapaksa

Indicted in the Colombo High Court for criminal breach of trust over Rs. 70 million Krrish provided ostensibly for rugby. CIABOC separately alleges the money was a bribe for helping Krrish obtain the UDA land and approvals. He is not the lessee or owner of the land, and no court has found either allegation proven.

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Connections

  • Janaki Siriwardena allegedly paid cash to Namal Rajapaksa— Alleged Rs. 70m in three instalments
  • investigated by CIABOC— Named fourth suspect 28 Sept 2026; remanded to 6 Oct
Sources (4)

Former Krrish director; CIABOC first suspect

Janaki Siriwardena

Named in 2012 as a director of Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd; later described as its CEO. Arrested by CIABOC on 24 Sept 2026 over the allegation that she paid Rajapaksa Rs. 70 million, and remanded until 6 Oct 2026. Not a tracked politician.

Connections

Sources (4)

Companies & institutions involved

Indian developer

Krrish Group

The Indian group that responded to the UDA's call for proposals and set up the Sri Lankan project company. Its promoter's Indian assets, including leasehold rights in Colombo, were attached by India's Enforcement Directorate in January 2025 in a separate money-laundering probe.

Connections

Sources (2)

Project company and lessee

Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd

Incorporated for the project; the party that paid the commitment fee and later signed the long lease. India's ED describes it as later renamed The One Transworks Square (Pvt) Ltd. A Commercial High Court winding-up order was reported around August 2024; in January 2026 the liquidator invited offers (deadline 28 Feb) for the project, valued at US$712 million with about US$85 million of work done.

Connections

  • Urban Development Authority linked to Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd— 99-year lease - 3.7 acres, signed Oct 2015
  • paid Urban Development Authority— Rs. 499.5m commitment fee - 14 Sept 2012
  • Krrish Group owns / controls Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd— Incorporated the local project company
  • Janaki Siriwardena board member of Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt) Ltd— Director (2012); later reported as CEO
Sources (6)

Land holder and lessor

Urban Development Authority

Held the major portion of the site as state land and was the lessor in the Krrish deal. By 9 Nov 2012 it was still taking steps to vest the heritage-building plot before signing the final lease.

Connections

Sources (3)

Former lessee of part of the site

Central Bank of Sri Lanka

Held an executed lease for a car-park project and reportedly paid Rs. 100.485 million of the lease premium. The government told Parliament the lease did not materialise and was cancelled with the bank's concurrence, so the bank was no longer party to the development. No pre-Krrish headquarters or building plan for this land has been located. CIABOC told the Chief Magistrate in Sept 2026 that the bank had invested about Rs. 150 million in the property; that figure comes from one report and does not match the Rs. 100.485 million of premium reported in 2012.

Connections

Sources (3)

Former lessee of part of the site

People's Bank

Leased one of the three lots and reportedly paid Rs. 14.2 million of premium. The 0.6 acres left out of the 2015 lease had been leased temporarily to People's Bank and the Central Bank.

Connections

Sources (2)

Substation on the site

Ceylon Electricity Board

A smaller plot with an electricity substation was vested in the CEB and was excluded from the developer's footprint, which the government cited as one reason the site was hard to develop.

Connections

Sources (2)

Reviewed the proposal

Board of Investment of Sri Lanka

The government told Parliament the proposal was considered by the UDA Board of Management, the BOI Board and a Cabinet-appointed review committee before Cabinet approved entering a conditional lease. In August 2015 the BOI chairman said Krrish was one of five projects still at the gazette-notice stage that lacked parliamentary approval for their Strategic Development Projects Act concessions; they would have to renegotiate under the 2006 concessions.

Connections

Sources (2)

Bribery Commission

CIABOC

Investigating whether the Rs. 70 million was a bribe linked to the land and approvals. Told the Chief Magistrate that India had communicated that funds used in the Krrish transaction were proceeds of money laundering. These are submissions, not findings.

Connections

  • Namal Rajapaksa investigated by CIABOC— Named fourth suspect 28 Sept 2026; remanded to 6 Oct
Sources (3)