Supreme Court issues travel ban on Mahinda, Basil

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Basil Rajapaksa

The Supreme Court yesterday issued an order preventing former Finance Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa from traveling abroad without the permission of the court. The order will be effective until 28 July.

The order was issued with the agreement of the majority of judges of the five-member Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justices Bhuvaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayewardene, Vijith Malalgoda and L.T.B. Dehideniya.

The Bench issued the order when a motion related to a petition filed requesting the court to issue an order for an investigation against the people responsible for the current economic crisis was called yesterday.

Speaking on behalf of the petitioner, Chandaka Jayasundara PC said that after 2020, there was a serious crisis in the country regarding the payment of foreign debt but the rulers mocked the warnings and stated that there is no such crisis. The President’s Counsel also pointed out that this situation arose due to the tax concessions granted by the current rulers as soon as they came to power.

The President’s Counsel also said that despite the economic experts urging to get the support of the International Monetary Fund in the face of the economic crisis, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and the Government arbitrarily emphasised that it was unnecessary to take such a step and that there is no economic crisis in the country.

Chandaka Jayasundara PC pointed out that even after the COVID epidemic, the foreign reserves of countries such as India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, Pakistan and Maldives had increased in a remarkable manner and the rulers cannot claim that the current economic crisis in this country was caused by the spread of COVID.

Therefore, until this petition is considered, the President’s Counsel requested the court to issue an order to prevent former Finance Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa from going abroad without the permission of the court.

Gamini Marapana PC, who appeared for Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, presenting the facts before the court argued that the allegations made in the petition that his clients are solely responsible for the current economic crisis are baseless.

Gamini Marapana PC questioned how his clients alone are responsible for this situation when the Central Bank, Parliament and Government officials were also making decisions.

Although the tax concessions granted by the Government were accused as the main reason for the current economic crisis, the President’s Counsel pointed out that the tax concessions were granted according to a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers and stated that it was not due to the personal intervention of his clients.

Stating that the right to travel freely is a basic human right, Marapana PC argued that the ban on foreign travel demanded by the petitioners violates the basic rights of his clients.

After considering all the facts presented, the five-member Supreme Court bench issued an order preventing the former Finance Ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa from traveling abroad without the permission of the court until the 28th. It was ordered to consider these petitions on the 27th.

Former Central Bank governors named as respondents in this petition, Professor W. D. Laxman and Ajith Nivard Cabral and former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance S. R. Attygalle have already given a pledge before the court that they will not travel abroad without the permission of the court until the 27th.