International Red Notice for Basil Rajapaksa

Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara today (14) ordered the Illegal Assets Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department to arrest former Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and present him to court, in connection with allegations of misuse of funds of the Tourism Promotion Bureau.

In addition, the Magistrate has instructed law enforcement authorities to take necessary steps to issue a red notice through Interpol regarding the suspect former minister. This warrant order was issued after considering the detailed submissions made by the Criminal Investigation Department regarding the incident.

According to facts revealed in court by the Illegal Assets Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department, a sum of 7.8 million rupees allocated to the Tourism Promotion Bureau in 2014 was not used for the relevant promotional activities. It has been reported to the court that a significant financial loss was caused to the government by using these funds to obtain 12,000 T-shirts for the Uva Provincial Council election campaign.