Anti-graft units have ramped up their investigations since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power in September on a promise to fight corruption.

Former fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne, who served in the cabinet of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is accused of illegally awarding a 2012 contract to a foreign firm, allegedly causing a loss to the state of US$83,000.

“Senaratne had repeatedly dodged questioning,” the commission to investigate allegations of bribery or corruption said.

High Court judge Lanka Jayaratne ordered him transferred to a lower court to face multiple cases.

Several politicians from the Rajapaksa administration, as well as family members, are either in jail or on bail pending corruption investigations.

Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last week on a charge of misusing US$55,000 of government funds for a private stopover in Britain.

Wickremesinghe, 76, who was granted bail on Tuesday, insisted the stopover was part of his official duties.

Under Dissanayake, two former senior ministers have been jailed for up to 25 years for corruption.

The police chief has been impeached, after he was accused of running a criminal network that supported politicians, and the prisons chief was jailed for corruption.

The head of immigration – arrested just before Dissanayake took power – remains in detention on a charge of contempt of court.