Railway official nabbed for going off track

Rasika Somarathna

A senior officer attached to the Railway Department was arrested by Bribery Sleuths while accepting a bribe from a private contractor opposite the Fort railway station.

Director (Investigations) of the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption, Neville Guruge told the Daily News that the suspect, an Inspector attached to the Way and Works section in the CGR, was arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs. 30,000 from the contractor.

The suspect had solicited the bribe with the promise of hastening a project approval to lay a sewage line through the Fort railway station, Guruge said.

According to sources, the contractor had earlier sought CGR approval to lay the sewage line and had got the authorities’ consent for the project.

He had also made a payment of Rs. 240,000 to the CGR for the expected cost for damages. But later, the officer had approached the contractor with the promise of hastening the approval process, while soliciting a bribe of Rs. 50,000 to expedite the matter.

The contractor had then bargained with the officer and had lowered the figure to Rs. 30,000, which he had given to him opposite the Fort Railway Station on Wednesday evening when the sleuths nabbed him.

According to Guruge, the suspect produced before Colombo Magistrate Nishantha Hapuarachchi was remanded.