Colombo : Sri Lanka’s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksha fled the country and flew to Maldives on a military jet last night. Incidentally, Rajapaksha has not resigned his post and for a good reason. Rajapaksha enjoys immunity from prosecution while being the president, so flying out while still in office means preventing risk of arrest by the new government.
Rajapaksha arrived in the Maldives capital of Male at around 3:00 local time and was received by a Maldivian govt representative at Velana airport and escorted by police to an undisclosed location.
According to sources, Rajapaksha is in Maldives on transit and will fly to another destination not disclosed yet.
According to Lankan officials, the president’s youngfr brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksha remains in the country. Basil, 7, is widely held responsible for the country’s worst economic crisis. Basil is a US passport holder. He had resigned as the country’s Finance Minister in April following huge protest.
