Shiranthi Rajapaksa flew to Singapore hours before her FCID summons became public. Here’s what police say happened — and what her family disputes.
Former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa flew out of Sri Lanka for Singapore in the early hours of September 16, just as police confirmed she must appear before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division on September 24 over the long-dormant Siriliya Saviya Foundation probe. Her family insists the timing was a coincidence tied to a medical emergency, not an attempt to dodge investigators.
The Departure That Triggered the Questions
Shiranthi Rajapaksa, wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ-469 out of Bandaranaike International Airport at around 1:10 a.m. on September 16. She travelled as a regular passenger, accompanied by a female relative identified by several outlets as Anne de Livera, connected to the family through her son Rohitha Rajapaksa.
The journey to the airport began at a private hospital in Colombo. Rajapaksa had been admitted there on September 15 after falling ill, and she went straight from her hospital bed to the departure terminal rather than returning home first. That detail sits at the center of the dispute now playing out between police, the public, and her family.
Just hours before she landed in Singapore, the Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division confirmed it had summoned her to give a statement on September 24. The case concerns the Siriliya Saviya account, a fund tied to a foundation she once chaired. Investigators say the notice had originally been delivered to her residence, Carlton House in Tangalle, but she was in the hospital in Colombo when it arrived. FCID officers then moved to serve the notice at the airport itself, and a relative accepted it on her behalf as she prepared to board.
Two Very Different Timelines
What happened next depends on who you ask, and the discrepancy is the real story here.
Police maintain a straightforward sequence: the notice was already in motion before Rajapaksa left the hospital, officers tracked her to the airport, and a relative received the summons on her behalf shortly before departure. Under this version, she left the country fully aware that investigators wanted her back in eleven days.
Her family tells it differently. According to a family member who spoke to reporters, Rajapaksa had received no summons at any point before she reached the airport. Her flight, they say, was originally scheduled for around 12:50 a.m., and an airport official handed her the FCID letter near the departure gate only minutes before boarding — after she was already committed to the trip. The family flatly rejects any suggestion that she knowingly left the country to sidestep a formal summons, framing the entire trip as a medically necessary departure that happened to overlap with the notice’s delivery.
Neither side disputes the core facts: she left in the early hours of the morning, she was accompanied by a relative, and the notice reached her circle at or near the airport. The disagreement is about intent and timing down to the minute — a gap that will likely shape how this story develops over the next week.
Her family says she is expected to return to Sri Lanka on September 19, five days ahead of the date investigators have set for her statement.
What the Siriliya Saviya Investigation Is Actually About
The FCID’s renewed interest in Rajapaksa traces back to her role as chairperson of the Siriliya Saviya Foundation, a charitable body whose finances have drawn scrutiny on and off since 2015. Sources familiar with the case say the file was never closed but simply stalled at various stages for close to a decade before investigators picked it back up recently.
Several strands of the case are now under examination:
- State funds channelled to the foundation. Investigators are looking at transfers made from state institutions to Siriliya Saviya, and whether those transactions followed proper process.
- Tax-concession vehicle imports. The foundation reportedly imported vehicles under tax concessions intended for charitable use — but investigators are examining whether those vehicles were used as intended, including allegations that some ended up with the CSN broadcast network.
- A CT scanner fundraiser for Lady Ridgeway Hospital. Perhaps the most striking thread involves a public fundraising campaign run to buy a CT scanner for Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Sri Lanka’s main children’s hospital. Earlier investigations reportedly found that the hospital had actually received its CT scanner as a donation from a foreign government — raising questions about where the publicly raised money actually went.
- HIV/AIDS prevention funding. Investigators are also reviewing how funds collected for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention programmes were spent.
- A Colombo property tied to the foundation’s treasurer. A residence in Colombo allegedly owned by Rajapaksa had reportedly been registered as the official address of the foundation’s treasurer, a detail investigators are now revisiting.
- A bank account opened with a suspicious NIC number. Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising detail to resurface: a bank account reportedly opened using the National Identity Card number “222222222V” as Rajapaksa’s identification — a number that does not correspond to a standard, individually issued NIC and has drawn renewed attention as investigators dig back through the file.
Together, these threads paint a picture of a charity whose fundraising, procurement, and banking records investigators now want explained in detail — more than a decade after some of the underlying activity is alleged to have taken place.
Why the Timing Matters
Sri Lanka has a long, well-documented history of politically connected figures leaving the country just as financial investigations resurface, and that history is precisely why Rajapaksa’s departure landed as news rather than a routine travel update. Whether or not she intended it, boarding a flight hours before a summons became public knowledge invites the obvious question: did investigators move too slowly, or did she move too fast?
The family’s counter-narrative — a medical emergency, a pre-booked flight, a summons served almost by accident at the gate — is plausible on its own terms. Medical emergencies do happen, and hospital admissions are not easily faked or staged for public consumption. But the FCID’s own statement that Rajapaksa “has gone abroad despite being summoned” suggests investigators are not inclined to accept the coincidence at face value, at least not yet.
Her stated return date of September 19 is the detail worth watching most closely. If she returns as her family says and appears before the FCID on September 24 as scheduled, the controversy over the airport summons will likely fade into a footnote about poor timing. If the trip is extended, or the September 24 date slips, the narrative around evasion will almost certainly harden.
What Happens Next
The Financial Crimes Investigation Division has not indicated whether it plans to take any additional steps before September 24, such as a travel restriction request or a formal notice to Interpol, both tools used in past cases involving Sri Lankan political families. For now, the case rests on the calendar: a return date of September 19, a statement date of September 24, and a decade-old file finally being reopened in full public view.
What is clear is that this is not a new investigation being launched from scratch. It is an old one — dating to 2015 — being pulled back into daylight, with fresh scrutiny on transactions, imports, and fundraising campaigns that were never fully resolved the first time around. Whatever Rajapaksa tells investigators on September 24, the questions about the CT scanner campaign, the tax-concession vehicles, and the account opened under an implausible NIC number are unlikely to disappear quietly.