The eldest son of Sri Lanka’s former president was arrested on a money laundering charge yesterday, days after being named shadow foreign minister.
Namal Rajapakse was remanded into custody for accepting more than $500,000 from an Indian company, police told a Colombo judge.
Colombo Fort Magistrate ordered Rajapakse, a lawmaker from an opposition party faction loyal to his father Mahinda, to be kept in custody until July 18 to allow the police’s Financial Crimes Investigations Division to conduct their enquiries. 
There was no immediate comment from the former first family over 30-year-old Namal’s arrest.
The former president’s younger son, Yoshitha, is already facing similar money laundering charges over dealings at his private television channel, Carlton Sports Network.
In April last year, authorities arrested Mahinda Rajapakse’s younger brother Basil, who was a government minister under his sibling.
The former president and his relatives controlled nearly 70% of Sri Lanka’s national budget during his rule that ended in January 2015, when he was defeated at the polls by his former ally Maithripala Sirisena.
The new president has vowed to investigate allegations that members of Rajapakse’s family siphoned off billions of dollars from the country during his nearly 10-year rule.
Local rights organisations have accused the government of not taking swift action to investigate corruption under 
Rajapakse.
Former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapakse’s son was arrested on Monday over 
financial fraud.
Namal Rajapakse was arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigations Division over fraud, and was questioned for hours, 
Xinhua news agency reported.
He was alleged to have recorded a statement over the misplacement of funds amounting $480,000 during the previous government.
The former first family were under a probe over allegations of fraud and corruption that had taken place in the Rajapakse government.
Mahinda Rajapakse was ousted out of power in the presidential 
poll in January 2015.