The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) rejected the Right to Information (RTI) request on the details of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s visit to Maldives on an Air Force aircraft on 13 July.
The former President fled to the Maldives a few days after protesters occupied both the President’s House in Fort and the Presidential Secretariat on 9 July, following a mass protest in Colombo.
Both Information Officer and Designated Officer for RTI at Air Force Headquarters rejected the application and said requested details cannot be released as per the provision of Section 5 (1) (b) (i) of the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016.
SLAF confirmed on 13 July that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards boarded an Air Force flight to the Maldives early that day. “In accordance with the powers vested in an Executive President in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, at the request of the existing Government, subject to the full approval of the Ministry of Defence, and subject to Immigration, Customs and all other laws at the BIA, the President along with the First Lady and two security guards departed on an Air Force aircraft to the Maldives early this morning,” the SLAF said in a statement, of its services to Rajapaksa, who held the positions of Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief, until his resignation.