A travel ban has been imposed on Dhammika by the magistrate. Arjuna Ranatunga's brother is a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the United States. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 13, 2026, according to the same news agency.
Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning captain, is set to be arrested on corruption charges related to his time as petroleum minister, a court was informed on Monday, according to the news agency AFP.
Arjuna and his elder brother Dammika have been accused of changing the procedure for awarding long-time oil procurement contracts, and making spot purchases at a higher cost, as revealed by a corruption watchdog. Dammika was arrested by the country's anti-graft commission and later released on bail on Monday.
A travel ban has been imposed on Dhammika by the magistrate. Arjuna Ranatunga's brother is a dual citizen of Sri Lanka and the United States. The next hearing has been scheduled for March 13, 2026, according to the same news agency.
The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) said the 63-year-old Dammika was arrested for wrong tendering procedure in the purchase of crude oil by state entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) in 2017 when he was its chairman.
CIABOC said Dammika's undue influence had caused a loss of 800 million Sri Lankan rupees to CPC. CIABOC told the Colombo Magistrate Court that Dammika's younger brother Arjuna had been named as the second accused in the case.
Arjuna could not be arrested and produced in court as he is overseas. Arjuna was the Minister of Petroleum Industries when Dammika headed CPC. Dammika played two Tests against Australia as an opener in 1989/90. He later became the first CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body for the sport in the country.
Earlier, Ranatunga's brother, Prasanna, a former tourism minister, was also arrested in connection with an insurance fraud case. The case is currently pending, but he had been previously convicted in June 2022 for extorting money from a businessman.
Ranatunga, aged 62, was an extremely popular left-handed batter during his prime, and his greatest achievement was leading Sri Lanka to win the World Cup in 1996, after the Islanders defeated Australia in the summit clash. Ranatunga played a total of 93 Tests and 269 ODIs, scoring more than 10,000 runs across the two formats. Under his captaincy, Sri Lanka also won a Test series in England for the first time.