Sri Lanka ex-minister arrested over king's stone theft

Former Sri Lankan minister Keheliya Rambukwella was arrested on August 18 over allegations that he helped steal a centuries-old carved stone from the palace of Sri Lanka's last Sinhala king, the country's anti-corruption commission said.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption said the case concerns a heavy circular granite "moonstone", a symbolic stepping-stone feature at the entrance to the palace of Veera Parakrama Narendrasinghe, who reigned until 1739.

The commission said Rambukwella conspired in the removal of the historic object in December 2022 and obstructed police investigations at the time. It also said he had been charged in an unrelated case over using state funds to employ six people for his private business.

Rambukwella is separately facing an ongoing court case over the purchase of counterfeit medicines for state hospitals while he was health minister. Police have told the court that he authorised the purchase of a life-saving cancer drug that turned out to be water.

Several senior health ministry officials have also been indicted over the drug case. Rambukwella was health minister when Sri Lanka faced an acute shortage of medicines after defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt in April 2022 following its declaration of bankruptcy.