Investigation into alleged irregularities in the 2006 MiG aircraft procurement

A cousin of the Rajapaksa family who, as Ambassador, took a personal role in Sri Lanka's military procurement from Ukraine, including the MiG-27 deal. An arrest warrant was issued via Interpol in October 2016; he was intercepted in the UAE in February 2018 while attempting to travel to the US on a blacklisted passport; and he was extradited, arrested and remanded on his return to Sri Lanka in February 2020, before being released on bail in April 2020 on cash bail of Rs. 2.5 million and two Rs. 50 million sureties, with a travel restriction. He gave further CID statements in August 2022 and, with his wife, in August 2025 over a related financial transaction. In December 2024 the US State Department designated him and his immediate family under Section 7031(c) for corruption connected to the MiG procurement — an administrative visa sanction, not a Sri Lankan criminal conviction. His case remains active before the Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court, most recently recalled for 6 January 2027 after referral to the Attorney General.

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence during the procurement

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka's most senior defence official when the 2006 deal was signed. He was first questioned by the FCID over the MiG deal on 20 May 2015 and gave a further statement on 11 September 2026, after the investigation's renewed activity that month. He has not been named a suspect, arrested, charged, or indicted in the matter, and is not a party to the active Fort Magistrate's Court proceeding, which concerns Weeratunga.

Recorded a statement to the FCID on 10 September 2026 lasting more than five hours, as part of the renewed investigation. Not reported arrested or charged.

Recorded a statement to the FCID on 15 September 2026 lasting nearly six hours, as part of the renewed investigation. Not reported arrested or charged.

In 2006 SLAF signed agreement SLAF/2006/07/AIR for four MiG-27 fighter aircraft, the overhaul of three existing MiG-27s and one MiG-23 UB trainer, and transport — represented as a government-to-government deal with Ukraine's state defence exporter. FCID investigators later reported that the payments due under it were routed to Bellimissa Holdings rather than paid in full to the actual Ukrainian supplier.

Named in the 2006 agreement as the 'designated party' to receive Sri Lanka's payments for the MiG-27 deal. FCID investigators reported that Bellimissa was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and did not operate from the London address given in the transaction documents — reporting has described it as effectively a shell company through which the payment was diverted.

A Singapore-registered company FCID identified as the actual intermediary behind the transaction. Its own agreements with Ukraine's Ukrinmash totalled US$7,833,000 — well short of the US$15,665,437.24 that SLAF paid to Bellimissa Holdings under the same procurement, a gap central to the investigation's misappropriation allegation.

Ukraine's state arms-export entity, the actual supplier of the MiG-27 aircraft, overhaul work and associated services. FCID reporting says the D.S. Alliance-Ukrinmash agreements — the underlying commercial arrangement for the aircraft themselves — totalled US$7,833,000.

The police unit that has investigated the MiG-27 procurement since at least 2016, produced the 2018 findings on the Bellimissa/D.S. Alliance/Ukrinmash payment chain, and has recorded fresh statements from Weeratunga, Rajapaksa, Goonetileke and Perera during 2025-2026.

In December 2024, designated Udayanga Weeratunga and his immediate family under Section 7031(c) of the US Foreign Relations Authorization Act, citing corruption connected to the MiG-27 procurement. This is an administrative visa-ineligibility designation, not a criminal charge or conviction, and does not itself establish guilt in the Sri Lankan proceeding.