Sri Lanka’s former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the youngest brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was stopped from boarding a flight to Dubai on Monday evening, local media reported.
Basil reportedly attempted to leave Sri Lanka amid the ongoing economic crisis in the country but airport immigration officials refused to let him leave the country following the protests by passengers, Daily Mirror reported. Upon immigration officials’ refusal, Basil had to return without being able to proceed, the report added.
This development comes a day after Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena clarified that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country, soon after reports emerged that the President has left the island nation.
Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa, who announced his resignation on Saturday, was earlier said to have fled and was in a third country.
“President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country, I made a mistake in the (BBC) interview,” Speaker Abeywardena told ANI in a telephone call.
