Ousted Sri Lankan President Quizzed Over Cash Stash

Post created on 11:53 am

Sri Lankan police told AFP on Wednesday they are investigating ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa over a hidden cash stockpile uncovered when protesters stormed his former residence last year

Rajapaksa presided over an unprecedented economic crisis that saw the island nation’s 22 million people suffer through months of food, fuel, and pharmaceutical shortages.

He fled the country last July after an angry mob besieged his compound — tendering his resignation from abroad days later — but has since returned and is living under armed guard.

Protesters occupied his presidential palace for several days, discovering 17.5 million rupees ($48,000) hidden in Rajapaksa’s private quarters that they later turned over to police.

Police investigators on Monday “recorded a three-hour long statement from the former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the cash found in the president’s house”, police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa told AFP.

A court in the capital Colombo had ordered police to take a statement on the cash stockpile last November.

Thalduwa said the interrogation was part of an ongoing investigation, without giving further details.

[AFP]