Chinese company says donated to Rajapaksa family foundation

A leading Chinese company today said it had made a donation to a private fund linked to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa that was meant to build houses for the poor.

The Colombo International Container Terminals Limited (CICT) in a statement said that it paid nearly 20 million Sri Lankan rupees to Pushpa Rajapaksa Foundation as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Pushpa is the wife of Basil Rajapaksa, Mahinda's younger brother, who was also his economic development minister.

The CICT admission to funding the Rajapaksa foundation came amid reports that the Chinese had funded Rajapaksa's unsuccessful presidential reelection bid in 2015.

CICT did not say how many homes were to be built with the money, only saying it was meant to build houses for the poor.

Once funding is allocated, CICT believes that the funding so allocated would be utilised for the said projects by the receiving agencies without CICT having to play a supervisory role," it said.

A New York Times report, denied by the Rajapaksas, last month said that the Chinese had given them money. The report also accused China of pushing Sri Lanka into a debt trap.

The Chinese embassy here said the debt traps were Western media claims.