Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said new laws would be introduced to protect government servants from prosecution over duties carried out in official capacity.

Assuming duties as the Ministry of Finance, Rajapaksa said new laws were needed to protect senior state officials.

Several senior state officials who worked closely with the Rajapaksa administration before 2015 faced a surfeit of legal action over alleged corruption.

Lalith Weeratunga, Nalaka Godahewa and Gamini Senerath were among senior officials who were prosecuted for their actions under the previous government.