Court probes into Gotabaya Rajapaksa's dual citizenship

COLOMBO (News 1st) -  The CID once again reported facts to Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne on an inquiry taking place on Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. On September 20th the CID informed the court that it was conducting an investigation over a complaint which was made citing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whilst being a US citizen had visited Sri Lanka in 2005 on a tourist visa and engaged in political activities. Detectives said the complaint noted Rajapaksa's actions violated the Citizenship Act, Election Laws and the Immigration & Emigration Laws in the country. Detectives said as Gotabaya Rajapaksa obtained a Sri Lankan Passport and NIC citing he had renounced his US Citizenship, an investigation is underway to understand if the passport and NIC were obtained legally. Officers informed the court, as a proper certificate proving that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had denounced his US citizenship was not presented, future investigations should be conducted along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Immigration and Emigration and the US Embassy. On the 21st Udaya Gammanpila and Wimal Weerawansa made statements to the media on these facts, and today the CID sought permission from the Chief Magistrate to obtain footage aired by the media for their investigations. Accordingly, Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered three media institutions to hand-over unedited footage of the statements made by the two politicians to the CID. Professor G.L. Peris spoke of these investigations at a media briefing held today (September 23). He noted that the issues that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has to face include issues regarding his dual citizenship, national identity card, and passport and they would be taken care of immediately. He went on to note that there were no legal issues.