SC further extends travel ban on MR & Basil

August 3, 2022 at 3:59 PM

The Supreme Court today further extended the overseas travel ban that was imposed on former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa until the 11th of August. 

The overseas travel ban was initially imposed on the Rajapaksa brothers on 15th July and has since been extended.

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)