WASHINGTON — An investigation led by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Washington, D.C.
field office led to a guilty plea by a former Sri Lankan ambassador to the U.S. today for diverting and attempting to embezzle funds from the government of Sri Lanka.
Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya, 61, of Arlington, Virginia attempted to misappropriate $332,027during the Sri Lankan government’s 2013 purchase of a new embassy building in Washington, D.C.Wickramasuriya served as ambassador for the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the United States and to Mexico from 2008 to 2014.
He pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties.According to court documents, from 2012 through November 2013, Wickramasuriya devised a scheme to defraud the government of Sri Lanka during its 2013 purchase of a new embassy building in Washington, D.C.