By Vipula Wanigasekera –

Dr. Vipula Wanigasekera

On May 29, 2025, the Colombo High Court sentenced former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, alongside former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, who received a 25-year sentence. Their conviction stemmed from causing significant financial losses to the government through the irregular procurement of sports equipment—Carrom boards and checkers—for distribution to sports clubs during the  Presidential Election.

While justice may appear to have been served, this event invites a deeper contemplation on the nature of punishment, societal structures, and human fallibility. Sri Lanka’s prison system is infamous for its deplorable conditions. Facilities like Welikada Prison are said to operate at over 280% capacity, resulting in severe overcrowding, inadequate sanitation, and limited access to medical care. For those who have lived a life of comfort, the transition to such an environment is not merely a physical discomfort but a profound psychological upheaval. It is hard not to feel a sense of human sorrow at such a drastic fall.

Yet, for the pendulum swinging from one end of privilege to the hard labour of incarceration—a large majority in the country would express a collective relief with such outcomes as  these are long-awaited reckoning, moments of accountability in a nation wearied by the immense suffering of the poor, whose lives have been ravaged by decades of corruption and mismanagement. In their eyes, justice is not merely about punishing an individual but about recognizing the invisible cost borne by the masses.

That said, the real tragedy lies not just in sentencing, but in how politicians and public officials arrive at this destination. In my article “Rob or Perish” published in the Colombo Telegraph, I explored how systemic corruption often emerges not from innate criminality but from an ecosystem that silently demands conformity to unethical norms. In the political and public service landscape of Sri Lanka, many feel that accumulating wealth through corrupt means is not only acceptable but necessary. This culture of impunity keeps sending an underpinning message: Play along, or be left behind.

Many politicians and officials appear to have internalized this logic over the years. The pressure to perform, to fund campaigns, to match or exceed the wealth of one’s peers or superiors, creates a vortex of decisions that eventually lead to ruin. The historical absence of serious consequences for white-collar crime has deepened this pattern. In this sense, many of those convicted are not just individual offenders but products of a morally eroded system.

Political psychologist Dr. Ashis Nandy once wrote, “Corruption is often a response to a larger structural immorality.” When systems fail to uphold integrity and justice consistently, individuals rationalize wrongdoing as self-preservation. Those who are shielded by privilege often lose touch with the day-to-day struggles of the average Sri Lankan. This disconnect fosters arrogance, diminishes empathy, and wears away the sense of accountability that must underpin public service. Few within such spheres pause to reflect on the consequences their actions have on those struggling with poverty, unemployment, or loss of hope.

It is precisely this widespread disillusionment that paved the way for the National People’s Power Government to be elected—on the promise that they would confront and correct these longstanding distortions of governance. Their rise to power signaled a public yearning not merely for regime change, but for a moral reawakening.

This conviction mark a turning point in Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption narrative. But they also call us to reflect more deeply: on how power corrupts, on how systems enable, and on how those who fall were once part of a system that never taught them the real value of public trust. Justice, if it is to be truly served, must therefore go beyond punishment—it must include transformation of the very environment that makes corruption seem like the only logical choice.

*Writer is former Diplomat, Head of Tourism authority and currently a Senior Lecturer, Meditation Coach and Reiki Healer