Sri Lankan airport officials halt President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his ex-Finance Minister brother’s bid to flee country
The president and his wife spent the night at a military base next to the main international airport after missing four flights that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.
COLOMBO: As the political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka worsens, members of the Rajapaksa family are believed to have made efforts to leave the country. However, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa’s bid to take flights to the United Arab Emirates have so far been thwarted by immigration officials.
The president and his wife spent the night at a military base next to the main international airport after missing four flights that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates. Immigration officers have refused to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport, while the President insisted he would not go through the public facilities fearing reprisals from other airport users.
Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest as the President and is believed to want to go abroad before stepping down (possibly on Wednesday) in order to avoid the possibility of being detained. The 73-year-old leader had taken refuge at a navy facility before being brought to the Katunayake airbase which shares a perimeter fence with the country’s main Bandaranaike International airport.
An AFP report quoting a military source said that Rajapaksa – who remains the commander-in-chief of the armed forces – had the option of traveling in an air force aircraft. Another alternative still open to him would be to take a navy vessel to either India or the Maldives.
Meanwhile, his youngest brother Basil who resigned as finance minister in April missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early on Tuesday after a similar standoff with the airport staff. A US dual citizen, he had had to obtain a new passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday.
While Basil had tried to use the paid concierge service for business travelers, airport and immigration staff said they were withdrawing from the fast track service with immediate effect. “There were some other passengers who protested against Basil boarding their flight. It was a tense situation, so he hurriedly left the airport,” an airport official told news agency AFP.
