Travel ban on MR & Basil further extended

August 1, 2022 at 5:01 PM

The overseas travel ban that was imposed on former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa has been further extended. 

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka extended the travel ban imposed on the two politicians until the 4th of August. 

On 27th July, the Court extended the overseas travel ban on the Rajapaksa brothers until today after it had imposed the initial travel ban on 15th July. 

The travel ban was extended after the petition filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) and three others against the two politicians was taken up for consideration today. 

On the 17th of June, TISL filed a petition in the public interest calling on the court to restrict the overseas travel of 6 respondents including Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank W.D. Lakshman, former Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal, and former Finance Ministry Secretary S.R. Attygalle, as interim measures during the pendency of the case. 

The petition by TISL, Chandra Jayaratne, Jehan CanagaRetna, and Julian Bolling claims that the respondents named in the petition are directly responsible for the unsustainability of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, its hard default on foreign loan repayments, and the current state of the economy of Sri Lanka. 

The petition calls for the respondents to be held accountable for their illegal, arbitrary, and unreasonable acts or omissions which culminated in the current economic crisis. (NewsWire)