Supreme Court bars Mahinda and Basil from leaving the country
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s top court on Friday (15) barred former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country without permission until July 28, anti-corruption group Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) said.
The interim relief was given by the Supreme Court when the petition filed by TISL and three others against the two politicians and three other officials was taken up for hearing on Friday.
TISL said two former governors of the central bank, W.D. Lakshman and Ajith Nivard Cabraal, and former finance ministry secretary S.R. Attygalle have also been prevented from travelling overseas without the permission of the Court until July 28
The case is to be supported for full leave to proceed on July 27, TISL added.
The petition was filed in the public interest on June 17, calling on the court to restrict the overseas travel of the Rajapaksa brothers, central bank governors and the former Treasury Secretary, as interim measures during the pendency of the case.
Petitioners TISL, Chandra Jayaratne, Jehan CanagaRetna, and Julian Bolling claiming the respondents were directly responsible for the unsustainability of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, its hard default on foreign loan repayments, and the current state of the country’s economy. The called for the respondents to be held accountable for their illegal, arbitrary, and unreasonable acts or omissions which culminated in the current economic crisis.
-Agencies/ENCL