Gotabaya Rajapaksa will return to island nation on August 24, claims Sri Lankan diplomat
India Today
Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga says that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will arrive in Sri Lanka on 24 August.
In a key development, former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, on August 17 said that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is set to arrive in the island nation on August 24. Sri Lankan news agencies reported that in a statement to the Criminal Investigation Department, the envoy said that the ousted president is set to head back to the homeland after being ousted from his office.
Reports suggest that Rajapaksa is currently in Bangkok on a 90-day visa after he had a brief stay in Singapore. Amid controversies sparked over his frequent trips abroad, the new Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe clarified that state funds or the incumbent government have not been born expenses of Rajapaksa's foreign trips, as news agency ANI report.
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The government information department stated that Gotabaya has not been utilising public or state funds for his trips abroad.
"All such expenses borne by the personal funds of the former president," the department stated.
On July 15, the Sri Lankan parliament announced the formal resignation of Gotabaya and Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the head of state on July 21 in the parliament.
The political turmoil surfaced after the island nation had been reeling under an unprecedented economic crisis and foreign exchange reserves were at an all-time low for a prolonged period. Reports suggest that shortages were such that the public in Sri Lanka were in dearth of basic supplies like oil for food, fuels, food shortages. Amid looming fear of coronavirus, the country also faced a shortage of medicines.
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