Sri Lanka prison chief suspended after fraud convict freed

Sri Lanka's government on Monday suspended the country's prisons chief over the release of a financial fraudster under the cover of an amnesty granted to hundreds of minor offenders.

The cabinet suspended Commissioner-General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya as criminal investigators probed the illegal release of fraud convict Athula Thilakaratne, the justice ministry said.

"It was decided to suspend the Commissioner-General until the investigations are concluded," the ministry said in a statement.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's office ordered a police investigation last week after the release of Thilakaratne.

He was serving a six-month sentence over a financial scam and is also facing 30 other fraud cases.

Nearly 400 inmates were granted a presidential amnesty last month to mark Vesak, the most important Buddhist festival on the island.

Thilakaratne "was not among those approved by the President to receive a pardon", Dissanayake's office said.

The president told a public rally last week that corruption was rife in prisons and called for a major clean-up. He also warned officials to improve or face the sack.