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Colombo Chief Magistrate shoots down CID request to question Gotabaya over activists complaint
View(s):The Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne on Friday (20) rejected a request by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to question former Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in connection with a complaint filed by two civil society activists.
The complaint was lodged on August 14 by activists Gamini Viyangoda and Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara. They had alleged that Mr. Rajapaksa’s passport had been issued irregularly and that he had engaged in political campaigning during the 2005 Presidential Election while being an American citizen, in violation of the Citizenship Act and the Presidential Election Act.
The complaint was first investigated by the Colombo Crimes Division before being handed over to the CID.
On Friday, the CID submitted a “B Report” to the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court detailing the progress of its investigation. After considering the request made by the CID to question Mr Rajapaksa, the Chief Magistrate ordered the CID to first obtain the relevant documents related to the case from the Department of Registration of Persons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Immigration and Emigration and report to court.