Sri Lanka ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa gets clean chit in 2022 'unaccounted cash' probe

Citing lack of evidence, Sri Lanka’s anti-graft commission has dropped a case against former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in which more than Rs 17 million was discovered by protesters from the President’s House here in July 2022. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on Wednesday reported to the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court that due to lack of evidence, no further action can be taken against the 74-year-old politician. The Bribery Commission informed the court that further legal proceedings regarding this incident would not be taken owing to insufficient evidence to proceed with the matter, the Daily Mirror online reported on Thursday. More than Rs 17 million in cash was found at the President’s House in Fort Colombo after Rajapaksa fled the President’s House on July 9 last year following the uprising against him. Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the President’s House in the capital in July last year demanding his resignation. The anti-government protesters discovered over Rs 17.85 million in cash and handed over the money to the Colombo Fort police. Rajapaksa later applied to the court to return the cash to him. The Colombo Fort magistrate’s court rejected the plea. Earlier this year, he was also questioned by Sri Lanka police in the case. A three-hour-long statement was recorded at his private house as directed by the court, a police spokesman had said. Rajapaksa has said that the money found at the President’s Office belonged to him but he was unable to take care of it due to the prevailing security situation at that time. He told the police that the money belonged to him and it was to be distributed among the people whose houses were destroyed by the protesters, the Daily Mirror portal reported. The former president fled Sri Lanka on July 13 last year to the Maldives. From there, he travelled to Singapore from where he sent in his resignation on July 14, paving the way for the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe to take over the presidential reins. Later, Rajapaksa flew to Thailand. He returned to Sri Lanka on September 2. Rajapaksa and his family faced multiple accusations of wrongdoing between 2015 and 2019. The powerful Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics for over two decades. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the 77-year-old patriarch of the Rajapaksa family has been the country’s president and prime minister. He was also forced to resign as the prime minister amidst the anti-government protests in the country last year.