Airbus Case: Viral Photo Of Massive Crowd Supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa Near Anti-Bribery Commission Is AI-Generated

A photo claiming to be of a large crowd that gathered to support former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) in Colombo on May 12, 2026 is going viral on TikTok and Facebook. Examples here, here, and here.

Rajapaksa reportedly appeared before the commission to give a statement after Kapila Chandrasena, the former CEO of SriLankan Airlines, admitted to having taken a bribe of USD 20 million from Airbus during a purchase of 10 aeroplanes for SriLankan Airlines in 2013. Later, Chandrasena claimed that he had handed over LKR 60 million of the bribe to Rajapaksa. The former President was summoned by the anti-bribery commission to investigate this disclosure. Chandrasena was found dead on May 8, 2026 with the police currently investigating the cause and circumstances of his death. 

Evidence

1. We first did a reverse image search and found no images that matched this from a verifiable source. 
2. We then performed a keyword search using words “Mahinda Rajapaksa”, “Anti-Bribery Commission”, “SriLankan Airlines”, “crowd”, and “support”. We came across images of the crowds present as taken by reliable media sources, such as these images by Ceylon Today and video footage posted by NewsFirst English. 

When compared, such footage did not match the viral image being circulated, especially in terms of the features of the building, such as the gate. In the real footage, the street also appeared to be controlled by police for traffic to safely pass through, whereas in the viral image, no police officers are present. 

1. The overly smooth texture of the viral image raised our suspicion on the authenticity. We then checked the image via AI-detection tools, which identified it as AI-generated as follows:

Hive Moderation: 95.4% likely to be an AI-generated image

ImageWhisperer: AI-generated

SightEngine: 99% likely AI-generated

Verdict

This image of the massive crowd that gathered at the bribery commission on May 12, 2026 in support of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is AI-generated.

FAQs 

Q1. What does the image show?
A large crowd gathered at the anti-bribery commission on May 12, 2026 in support of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was giving his statement for the probe into the 2013 Airbus deal linked to SriLankan Airlines.

Q2. Was there a crowd in front of the anti-bribery commission supporting Rajapaksa on that date? 
Yes.

Q3. Does the viral image show that crowd? 
No. The viral image shows an AI-generated depiction of the crowd, and makes it look significantly larger than the actual number of people that were present.

Our Sources

Hive Moderation
ImageWhisperer
SightEngine
Facebook post by Ceylon Today, posted on May 12, 2026
YouTube video of news broadcast, posted on the NewsFirst English YouTube channel, May 12, 2026