Supreme Court order sought barring Mahinda, Basil, Cabraal and more from leaving country

A motion has been filed with the Supreme Court seeking an order prohibiting former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, former CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and several others from leaving the country.

The motion was submitted in relation to a fundamental rights petition filed by the former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Chandra Jayaratne, requesting that an investigation be ordered against the individuals responsible for the current economic crisis.

The motion has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking an order imposing a foreign travel ban on several persons including former finance ministers Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, former governors of the central bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Prof. W D Lakshman.

The motion mentions that the fundamental rights petition filed requesting an order to conduct an investigation against the people responsible for the current economic crisis is scheduled to be called before the Supreme Court on the 27th of July.

The motion also mentions that through the fundamental rights petition it has been requested to issue an order preventing Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Professor W. D. Lakshman, former Finance Secretary S. R. Attygalle from leaving the country without the permission of the court.

However, due to the current state of unrest in the country, the public has not been able to know the whereabouts of even the President, who is named as a respondent in this case, and information has been revealed that some of the respondents in this case are preparing to flee the country, the motion further states.

Therefore, it requests the court to issue an order preventing those named as respondents in the FR petition from traveling abroad.

The fundamental rights petition has been filed by a group including former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Chandra Jayaratne, former medal-winning swimmer Julian Bolling, Jehan Kanagaratna and Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL).