On a complaint made by a person in Siyambalanduwa, Investigation Officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption arrested a Beat Forest Officer of Morana Beat Forest Office, Department of Wildlife Conservation on 09.11.2023 while accepting a bribe of Rs. 50,000/-.

The officer has visited to check the chenas which the complainant and his brother-in-law were cultivating in Rathugala Yaya estate in Bakmitiyawatha division since 2005, and has accused that they are cultivating in government lands without permission. He has then called them to his office and has got signed 2 surety bonds saying that he is instituting legal action against them. He has told that they will have to pay a huge fine if he files cases to the whole land they are cultivating, and has solicited Rs. 25,000/- from each of them, altogether Rs. 50,000/- for the two lands, in order to reduce it to quarter acre and allow cultivation in this season. He was arrested at the Morana Beat Forest Office while accepting the said bribe.