Gota’s MiG Deal: Investigation Finds Secret Bank Account In British Virgin Islands

May 31, 2015 

A secret bank account in the name of Bellimissa has been opened in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) just prior to the MiG deal.

According to the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) sources, the investigators who are dealing with the procurement of MiG-27 fighter jets to the Sri Lanka Air Force have managed to locate the account.

The account has been opened in 2006 just before the deal. Leak documents inColombo Telegraph‘s possession confirms that their was no company called Bellimissa in the UK.

According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists the BVI has harbored perhaps 850,000 offshore companies (as much as 40 percent of the world total), with 450,000 of them still active.

Sri Lankan government has paid US$ 10.078 million for four MiG 27s in 2006. Two of these fighter jets were grounded after being purchased and unserviceable during the warranty period.

As Colombo Telegraph reported last week, when the FCID questioned, the former secretary to the ministry of defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the purchases were done in a proper way. When subjected to deeper questioning he said the person responsible for all those matters was Air Marshal Roshan Gunatileke, who was the Air Force Commander at that time.Read More