A major corruption scandal has revealed that Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena demanded a “political donation” be paid by an Australian company, in order to secure construction contracts on the island.
A Fairfax Media investigation uncovered company emails from the Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC) that revealed the Sri Lankan president and his adviser demanded a political "donation" be made in order to secure a construction contract.
The emails further revealed that Mr Sirisena plotted to skim money from a 2009 World Bank funded project in return for awarding SMEC the contract, worth $1.82 million.
Emails from SMEC's Sri Lankan manager after his meeting with Mr Sirisena said “The minister ... wants to know whether SMEC could make a donation for the elections".
"[Mr Sirisena's] Coordinating Secretary said this is the way it goes prior to signing the cabinet papers. He wants us to produce an amount/percentage on the contract value," it continued.
The email went on to discuss the need to "inform the minister/co-ordinating secretary” the size of the bribe and the need to "prioritise" such payments "since the signing of the contract would depend" on it.
In a statement, SMEC confirmed there was a "request for a political donation". Mr Sirisena though did not respond to questions from 7.30.
The scandal is now the subject of a major Australian police probe.
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