• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Asia
  4. Ousted Sri Lankan president interrogated over cash stash
Asia

Ousted Sri Lankan president interrogated over cash stash

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 8 Feb 10:41

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is interrogated over hidden cash stash amid the country's economic crisis.

  • Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe (L) along with the country's former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa attend the annual Buddhist Navam procession at the Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo on February 5, 2023. (AFP)
    Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe (L), along with the country's former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, attend the annual Buddhist Navam procession at the Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo on February 5, 2023. (AFP)

Sri Lankan police told AFP on Wednesday that they are looking into former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's hidden cash stash, which was discovered when protesters stormed his former residence last year.

Rajapaksa presided over an unprecedented economic crisis that left the island nation's 22 million people without food, fuel, or pharmaceuticals for months.
 
He fled the country last July after an angry mob besieged his compound, and tendered his resignation from abroad, but he has since returned and is living under armed guard.
 
Protesters occupied Rajapaksa's presidential palace for several days, discovering 17.5 million rupees ($48,000) hidden in his private quarters, and later handed it over to police.
 
Police investigators "recorded a three-hour long statement from the former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the cash found in the president's house", a police spokesperson told AFP.

The economy behind the political turmoil

Sri Lanka has been burdened with months of lack of food, fuel, and medicine, extended power cuts, and inflation, following a foreign exchange crisis that left importers unable to pay for vital goods and a turn of events that saw the island's former President chased from the country and bankruptcy filed with mounting foreign debt. 

July witnessed huge protests in the country, and an angry crowd entered the official residence of Rajapaksa, who as a result fled the island and issued his resignation from Singapore.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board will need to agree on Thursday's staff agreement, which depends on Sri Lanka finalizing a deal to restructure its $51 billion in foreign debt with creditors. The IMF has set a $2.9 billion bailout amount for the revival of the country's economy. 

  • Gotabaya Rajapaksa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sri Lanka crisis

Trending Now

All
Anti-government protesters shout slogans against electing Ranil w'ickremesinghe as president at the ongoing protest site in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, August 3, 2022 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Joseph Stalin freed on bail - Reports

Most Read

US dollar may lose status as global reserve currency: Yellen

US dollar may lose status as global reserve currency: Yellen

  • US & Canada
  • 22 Mar
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference on 25, February, 2022. (AFP)

Kiev unable to launch counteroffensive: Zelensky

  • Europe
  • 25 Mar
Europe's move has only increased Putin’s esteem outside the West -- but estimation of Europe’s political nous and understanding of Russia, however, is sharply diminished.

Lawfare Comes into Fashion: The New Geo-political ‘Rack’

  • Analysis
  • 25 Mar
President Joe Biden listens as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 3, 2023 (AP).

Hersh: Nord Stream explosion decision possibly 'anger' or 'punishment

  • US & Canada
  • 25 Mar

Read this

All
Ukrainian tank crews look at a depleted uranium shell. (YouTube)
Europe

UK instructs Kiev troops on depleted uranium ammo use: Declassified UK

  • 28 Mar
Kiev's counteroffensive in spring to be 'decisive': US army secretary
Europe

Kiev's counteroffensive in spring to be 'decisive': US SECARMY

  • Today
Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in 'Bnei Brak' near 'Tel Aviv', occupied Palestine, March 23, 2023 (AP)
Palestine

Israeli opposition: protests will continue

  • Today
US troops patrol in their military vehicles near the Syrian border on 17 December 2020 (Reuters)
MENA

Biden officials say less strikes on Syria to come for meantime: NYT

  • 28 Mar
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS