President Maithripala Sirisena's Chief of Staff Dr. D. K. Mahanama and Timber Corporation Chairman P. Dissanayake were arrested by the Bribery Commission this evening. 

Sources within the Commission said they were arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs. 20 million. 

Dissanayake was the former private secretary of former President Chandrika Bamdaranaike Kumaratunga. 

The bribe, according to sources, had been paid by a foreign businessman over a deal involving the Kantale sugar factory. 

The duo had been arrested at the car park of a leading hotel near Galle Face Green.

They were expected to be produced before a magistrate tonight.