Former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena, who faced corruption charges tied to a $2.3 billion Airbus aircraft purchase, was found dead on May 8, 2026, police said.
Chandrasena was found at a relative’s home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, according to police, who said they were investigating the cause and circumstances of his death.
The former head of Sri Lanka’s state-owned flag carrier had been held by police in March 2026 on charges of conspiring to accept a $16 million bribe from Airbus in connection with the purchase of 10 aircraft. The aircraft deal was valued at $2.3 billion.
Chandrasena had been released from custody on May 5, 2026. A court ordered his re-arrest on May 7, 2026, after prosecutors accused him of bribing two men to post bail, according to AFP.
The case has drawn attention in Sri Lanka because of allegations that the money reached senior political figures. After his arrest in March, Chandrasena reportedly told investigators that part of the Airbus-linked money had been paid to then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa and then aviation minister Piyankara Jayaratne. A spokesman for Rajapaksa denied the allegation.
Sri Lanka’s bribery commission told a court in March that Chandrasena had admitted to paying Rajapaksa 60 million rupees, or about $480,000 at the time, in 2013 while serving as SriLankan Airlines CEO, according to AFP. The alleged payments came as the airline sought to finalize the Airbus order, which required cabinet approval.
Chandrasena’s name had surfaced years earlier in the wider Airbus corruption scandal. In 2020, Airbus agreed to pay more than $3.9 billion in penalties to resolve foreign bribery and export-control investigations by authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The US Department of Justice said the case involved Airbus using third-party business partners to bribe officials and airline executives to obtain business.
The SriLankan Airlines case became one of the examples cited in the broader investigation. British investigators accused Airbus of failing to prevent people associated with the company from bribing directors or employees of SriLankan Airlines to obtain or retain business, according to AFP.
The United States sanctioned Chandrasena in December 2024, alleging that he accepted a bribe while serving as SriLankan Airlines CEO in exchange for ensuring that Sri Lanka purchased Airbus aircraft above market value. The designation also applied to members of his immediate family.
SriLankan Airlines has continued to struggle financially. AFP reported that the carrier had accumulated losses of 596 billion rupees, about $1.85 billion, at the end of March 2025. Efforts to sell the airline have so far failed to attract a buyer.