Rajapaksa's aide rejects allegations of Chinese funding to his party in Lanka polls

A close aide of Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa today rejected as "gross misrepresentation of facts" a media report that claimed China had funded his unsuccessful 2015 presidential re-run.

A recent New York Times report claimed that "large payments from the Chinese port construction fund flowed directly to campaign aides and activities for Rajapaksa, who had agreed to Chinese terms at every turn and was seen as an important ally in China's efforts to tilt influence away from India in South Asia."