Ex-Sri Lanka minister fined LKR 75 million for purchasing substandard medicines

The Supreme Court on Friday fined a former health minister Sri Lanka rupees 75 million for violating fundamental rights by importing medicines under an Indian credit line in 2022 through a company not registered for the purpose.

A three-member bench of the island nation’s top court gave the ruling in response to a fundamental rights petitions filed by Transparency International and two other parties in what is being seen as Sri Lanka’s biggest public health scam case.

While Keheliya Rambukwella, the former health minister, was asked to pay Sri Lanka rupees (LKR) 75 million, the court also asked a group of senior health officials to pay LKR 50 million each to the state for importing medicines through the company which was not registered for health supplies under the Indian credit line to help the island nation tide over the forex and economic crisis in 2022.

Rambukwella was arrested while still being the health minister in early 2024, along with multiple officials for authorising the import of substandard human immunoglobulin from a company in India in a scam worth millions of Sri Lanka rupees.

He spent several months in remand before being bailed on health grounds.