Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to Sri Lanka on August 24, says his cousin | World News

New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa will return to the island nation subsequent week after fleeing in July amid mass protests, native broadcaster Newsfirst reported on Wednesday, citing his cousin and former ambassador.

Udayanga Weeratunga, a former Sri Lankan envoy to Russia who is expounded to Rajapaksa, stated he'll arrive in Sri Lanka on August 24, Newsfirst reported.

“He talked to me on the cellphone, I can let you know he'll return to the nation subsequent week,” stated Weeratunga, who was Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia from 2006 to 2015.

Weeratunga stated the ousted president shouldn't be re-elected for political positions, “however he can nonetheless do some service to the nation as he had carried out beforehand.”

Rajapaksa, the primary Sri Lankan president to stop mid--term, is quickly sheltering in Thailand, after fleeing Sri Lanka on a navy aircraft to the Maldives after which spending weeks in Singapore.

He resigned from workplace quickly after arriving in Singapore, dealing with public anger over his authorities’s dealing with of Sri Lanka’s worst financial disaster since independence from Britain in 1948.

Not utilizing state funds

In the meantime, the brand new Sri Lankan chief Ranil Wickremesinghe has come ahead to make clear that the present authorities just isn't paying for Rajapaksa’s abroad keep.

The federal government data division stated in a press release that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa just isn't utilizing state funds for any bills he makes overseas, Sri Lanka’s Newswire reported.

“All such bills borne by the non-public funds of the previous President,” the division stated