By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-09-30 09:06:58 | Updated at 2026-09-30 09:54:15
54 minutes ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – A former minister in Sri Lanka has been sentenced to a US$20,000 (S$25,000) fine and ordered to publish an apology to the nation for taking a vehicle that was intended for disaster response for personal use.
The country’s Supreme Court called former disaster management minister A.H.M. Fowzie’s misappropriation of the Toyota Land Cruiser a “textbook betrayal” of the public trust.
Fowzie, 88, must publish half-page apologies in state-owned newspapers in Sinhala, Tamil and English for using a specially equipped vehicle intended for emergency relief operations, the court said on Sept 29.
The court also said the advertisements must feature a photograph of the vehicle.
The car was purchased for Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre using a Dutch-funded loan and came fitted with glow-in-the-dark markings, a disaster warning alarm system and other equipment designed to aid emergency operations.
Instead, the court said, Fowzie kept the vehicle for his personal use for about five years.
“He appropriated that vehicle for his own personal use for approximately five years, treating a piece of critical public infrastructure as his personal property,” the court said in its ruling.
“This is a textbook betrayal of the public trust.”
The court also noted that Fowzie had also been using four other state-owned luxury SUVs.
Fowzie pleaded guilty to corruption charges linked to the vehicle and received a suspended prison term in 2024, avoiding jail.
But anti-corruption activist Chandra Jayaratne challenged that decision, arguing that the light sentence failed to reflect the wider harm caused by abuse of public resources.
Jayaratne welcomed the latest decision, saying it reinforced the principle that public assets are not personal perks.
“It is a good signal,” he told AFP. “I thought it would be bad for the future if the accused... got off lightly with a suspended prison sentence.”
The ruling comes as Sri Lanka’s government intensifies investigations into corruption and financial misconduct allegations involving members of the Rajapaksa political dynasty.
The Rajapaksas held power for much of the past two decades before mass protests forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa out from office in 2022. AFP
