File picture of Namal Rajapaksa, son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa
| Photo Credit: via PTI

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s elder son has been indicted in the High Court for alleged misappropriation from an Indian investment before 2015.

Namal Rajapaksa, 38, was arrested in June 2016 for the alleged misuse of 70 million Sri Lankan rupees from the Krish hotel project money to develop the game of rugby, for which he had been a Sri Lanka international player.

The Krish hotel project located in the heart of Colombo commercial district was aborted and the unfinished construction remains. Recently its unsafe status was questioned in another court for the danger posed to passersby.

Namal Rajapaksa was quizzed recently by the police after the Anura Kumara Dissanayake-led National People’s Power (NPP) government revived the Krish case – stalled since 2016.

A week later, his younger brother Yoshitha was arrested in the revival of a similar questionable property case. He was released on bail on Monday.

Namal Rajapaksa having learnt of his indictment posted on X “it is evident that the present government has launched a political witch hunt against the Rajapaksa family”.

Mahinda Rajapaksa in recent weeks has faced government ire as he had failed to vacate his official residence. The government accused the senior Rajapaksa of enjoying benefits at taxpayers expense.

He has already filed a plea in the Supreme Court to reverse the government’s action to drastically reduce his personal protection.

The opposition maintains that former presidents are constitutionally entitled to retirement benefits.

Journalists and well-wishers light candles on the grave of slain journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge on his 12th death anniversary, in Colombo on January 8, 2021.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The family of murdered Sri Lanka journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge appealed on Monday (September 23, 2024) to the island’s new President to reopen an investigation into the internationally-condemned assassination.

The anti-establishment editor was murdered as he drove to work in January 2009 by attackers later identified by police as members of a military intelligence unit linked to the once-powerful Rajapaksa family.

Saturday’s election of the country’s first leftist President, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, had given the family “a renewed sense of hope” of justice, Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa said.

Also read: Slain Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge’s daughter files U.N. complaint

“We are hopeful that this leadership will bring a fresh perspective into finally addressing the atrocities that have taken place in Sri Lanka’s recent human rights history,” she said in a statement.

Wickrematunge had accused then defence ministry secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa of taking kickbacks in arms procurements, including the purchase of second-hand MiG jet fighters from Ukraine.

His family held Mr. Rajapaksa, who was at the time a US national, responsible for the killing and filed action in a California court, but it was put on hold after he acquired immunity when he became President in November 2019.

Mr. Rajapaksa was forced out of office in July 2022 after mobs stormed his residence following months of shortages of food and other essentials.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, did not reopen investigations into any of the Rajapaksa-era killings, including those of over a dozen journalists and media workers.

Wickrematunge, a prominent critic of the then administration, was stabbed days before he was due to testify in a corruption case involving Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The killing shone a light on human rights violations in Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s elder brother.

Wickrematunge case has been seen as emblematic of the island’s culture of impunity for rights violations and has been taken up repeatedly by the UN rights body and others.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of giving orders to a shadowy military outfit allegedly involved in murdering journalists and political dissidents during Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war, an allegation he denies.

Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, and Sri Lanka’s former President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Sri Lanka’s powerful Rajapaksa clan, which suffered political battering due to the country’s worst economic crisis in 2022, will launch its political comeback bid on Sunday by targeting the impending elections.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ex-Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa were ousted from power during anti-government protests following the crippling financial and political crisis in 2022.

The ruling Sri Lanka People’s Front of the Rajapaksas, commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), will hold a public rally later in the day in the north central rural town of Thalawa, party member and former Minister SM Chandrasena told reporters.

He said that Mahinda Rajapaksa would inaugurate the rally, aiming to prepare the party grassroots for the major elections — the presidential or the parliamentary.

“We will start our campaign to gear the party for whatever the election that comes first,” Mr. Chandrasena said.

According to the Election Act, the presidential election should occur before the parliamentary elections. The next parliamentary election is not due before August 2025.

On Wednesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated his intention to hold the presidential election this year ahead of the parliamentary election.

The SLPP, however, wants the parliamentary election ahead of the scheduled 2025 date.

Earlier this month, the Elections Commission said the presidential election would be conducted at a date between September 17 and October 16.

The SLPP is yet to announce its candidate, while the two major opposition camps have already announced their presidential candidates.

The SLPP went into hiding after the massive street protests began in early 2022, which caused the resignation of the then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The SLPP was forced to elect arch-rival Wickremesinghe to serve the balance term of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

One of the SLPP Members of Parliament was killed by an angry mob. The properties of nearly 100 other party seniors were set on fire in the outpouring of public outrage over their inability to handle the economic crisis.