Sri Lanka government will set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. <br/><br/>In a statement, government said that there will be special three-judge high courts set up exclusively to hear bribery and corruption cases which are currently clogging the lower courts. Official sources said the new courts could start functioning by the middle of this year. <br/>'<br/>Rajapaksa's chief aide Lalith Weeratunga has already been<br/>convicted on a charge of misappropriating 4 million US Dollar and<br/>sentenced to three years in prison. Two of the former president's three sons have been charged with money-laundering and other family members face allegations of corruption. <br/><br/>Former President Rajapaksa, who is not under investigation, denies any wrongdoing and says his successor is carrying out a witch hunt. President Maithripala Sirisena has said as many as half of all public procurement contracts under the Rajapaksa administration were corrupt and the new government has renegotiated several multi-billion dollar projects. <br/><br/>