Former ambassador pleads guilty to defrauding Sri Lankan government

Washington: A former Sri Lankan ambassador has pleaded guilty to diverting and attempting to embezzle $332,027 from the Sri Lankan government during its 2013 purchase of a new embassy building in Washington DC, the Department of Justice said.

Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya, 61, who now lives in Arlington, Virginia, served as Sri Lankan ambassador to the US from 2008 to 2014.

On 1 April, 2022, he pleaded guilty in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties, a media release said.

According to court documents, from in or around late 2012 through November 2013, Wickramasuriya devised a scheme to defraud the government of Sri Lanka during its 2013 purchase of a new embassy building in Washington DC by inflating the price of the real estate transaction by $332,027 and, at closing, diverting those funds from the government to two companies which had no role in the real estate transaction.

At and after the January 2013 closing, Wickramasuriya directed these payments. Later in 2013, he ultimately had an equal amount of funds redirected back to government accounts, leaving the Sri Lankan government with no loss, the Department of Justice said.

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