(COLOMBO) – A Sri Lankan Left-leaning lawmaker yesterday decried moves to provide budgetary handouts to former Presidents Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapakse both of whom have been blamed in a court ruling for ruining the country’s economy.
“It is unreasonable to make budget allocations to the former Presidents who have been held responsible by the Supreme Court for the ongoing economic crisis in the island-nation”, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath said in Parliament.
The MP further said that funds allocated from the budget 2024 for the two former Presidents had been increased from Rs. 84 million to Rs. 110 million.
He said they could not approve of allocating funds for those who were instrumental for the economic crisis when people were struggling to make ends meet.
Ever since the court ruling made earlier this month there has been an increase in calls for action against the two former Presidents that include stripping them of their civic rights and the confiscation of their assets both in the country and overseas.
Some in the Opposition have also hinted at obtaining foreign assistance to recover monies being held by the Rajapakse’s in off-shore accounts.
They have alleged that the Rajapakses have stored billions of US dollars in foreign bank accounts and have invested in real estate and other businesses overseas often using proxies to avoid detection.
President Gotabaya Rajapakse was forced to flee the country after a massive public uprising three years ago.
His brother Mahinda who was the Prime Minister at that time was also forced to resign along with his Government.
The MP added that 66.7 percent of the budgetary allocations had been made to the President and that only 21 percent had been allocated to all 27 ministers while 12 percent had been allocated to the Prime Minister.
