Sri Lankan police have produced tens of thousands of rupees in court at the original residence of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who are anti-government protesters who fled the palace three weeks ago after a popular uprising against his authority. On July 9, hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through barricades and stormed then-President Rajapaksa’s home in the high-security Fort neighborhood of central Colombo, as they demanded his resignation over the island nation’s worst economic crisis in recent memory.
Amid unprecedented anti-government protests, Rajapaksa fled the country on July 13 to the Maldives and then to Singapore where he emailed his resignation. Protesters recovered 17.85 million Sri Lankan rupees inside his palace which was later handed over to the police.
The Superintendent of Police at the expense of the Colombo Central Crimes Investigation Division on Friday waived the money in the Fort Magistrate Court as per his order on Thursday, New First, an online portal, reported. Magistrate Thilina Gamage said there was reasonable doubt as to why Fort Police’s Officer in Cost (OIC) had failed to deposit the money for three weeks.
The magistrate also said that the court was not aware of any other special circumstances that would be presented by a special police unit from Slave Island, for the money originally given to the Fort Police. The Magistrate directed the Inspector General of Police to immediately look into the delay in the production of money and submit a report to the court.
The Chief of Police was once directed to appoint the Director of the Special Investigation Unit at the Police Headquarters for this purpose and provide him with basic support.
Sri Lanka has seen months of widespread unrest for the worst financial crisis, with the government declaring financial ruin in mid-April after refusing to honor its global debt. The previous Rajapakse administration has been accused of handling the economic crisis.
