Nirupama Rajapaksa
Nirupama Deepika Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician, a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and a former deputy minister.
Biography
Rajapaksa, herself a Sinhalese Buddhist, is married to an ethnic Tamil Hindu, Thirukkumaran Nadesan.She is the niece of former Sri Lankan President and later Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Her late father George and Mahinda were first cousins.
Career
She served as a deputy minister of water supply and drainage during the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2010 and 2015.Pandora Papers controversy
Her name was mentioned in the Pandora Papers which were leaked to the public in October 2021. Portions of the Papers revealed that she and her husband controlled a shell company they used to make investments and buy luxury apartments in London and Sydney. Nadesan set up other shell companies and trusts in secrecy jurisdictions, and he used them with the intention to obtain lucrative consulting contracts from foreign companies doing business with the Sri Lankan government and to buy artwork. Many reports related the fraudulent efforts as part of Rajapksa family's undisclosed wealth in offshore countries.The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reported that Rajapaksa and Nadesan declined to answer its questions about their trusts and companies.