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Sri Lankan PM intervenes to allow former minister to travel overseas

Xinhua, October 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday issued instructions to allow former minister and nationalist legislator, Wimal Weerawansa from leaving the country after he was barred by the Criminal Investigations Department.

Weeawansa was stopped at the country's international airport in the early hours of Friday and questioned by several CID officers over holding an invalid passport.

He was refrained from boarding a flight to Rome, where he was to attend a series of lectures.

Local media reports said that parliament which had convened on Friday had been informed of the incident by opposition parliamentarian Dinesh Gunewardena who also questioned the government as to why Weerawansa had been blocked at the airport.

Reacting to the query, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe promised to urgently look into the matter but said that if there was a court order against Weerawansa, then he would not be able to do anything.

However moments later, Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella informed parliament that legal clearance was facilitated to Weerawansa to allow him to travel overseas by the Prime Minister's intervention.

Weerawansa was the Housing Minister in the previous Mahinda Rajapakse government and is currently under a corruption probe in the island nation. Endit