Former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa has not returned to Sri Lanka, a day after the date her family had given for her arrival and four days before she is required to appear before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID).
Manoj Gamage, attorney-at-law and spokesman for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, confirmed the non-return to NewsFirst in response to an inquiry. He said family members are not prepared to disclose details of her failure to return, or of her current whereabouts.
A female relative who travelled to Singapore with Rajapaksa on 16 September returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday night. Rajapaksa did not.
What the family had said
Rajapaksa left Colombo in the early hours of 16 September, shortly after being notified that she was required to appear. Gamage has said she was being treated at a private hospital in Sri Lanka and travelled to Singapore for further medical care.
The 19 September return date came from the family’s side: an unnamed family member told the Daily Mirror last week that she was expected back that day and would face the summons. That date has now passed without her arrival, and the spokesman who confirmed it will not say what changed.
The summons
The FCID has told Rajapaksa to appear on 24 September in connection with an investigation into the financial transactions of the Siriliya Saviya organisation, which operated under her leadership.
The subject of the summons was disclosed on 17 September: Rs. 10 million obtained from a state-owned bank and deposited into a Siriliya Saviya account to buy a CT scanner for the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children. Investigators have not established that any scanner was bought with the money, and found that the equipment eventually presented to the hospital was a PET scanning machine donated by China.
Not reported
No outlet has said whether the FCID has been formally notified that she is abroad, whether the 24 September date will be kept or moved, or whether any step has been taken to secure her attendance. Her medical condition, the hospital treating her, and the country she is in all remain undisclosed by the family — as does whether she intends to return at all.
