SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa has defended former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s continued stay in the United States, telling reporters that government figures speak to his uncle more often than he does and rejecting allegations that the Rajapaksa family is avoiding legal proceedings.
“People in the Government speak to my uncle more often than I do. Whether he is remaining abroad based on their advice, I do not know. You will have to ask them and my uncle. However, he continues to be represented within the judicial process,” Namal Rajapaksa said.
The defence comes a day after Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena ordered Basil’s arrest over Rs. 7.8 million in Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau funds allegedly misused for a 2014 Uva Provincial Council campaign. The court cannot enforce the order while he remains overseas. Basil also faces an active Matara arrest warrant over the Brown Hill land purchase and a Rs. 1.1 million CIABOC case involving allegedly fraudulent air-ticket reimbursements, with a foreign travel ban already imposed.
Namal said the legal processes were being followed through his uncle’s lawyers and that no member of the family was evading the courts. The MP also accused the government of prioritising Rajapaksa-focused investigations over what he described as more urgent public concerns — citing rising fertiliser costs, tea-sector factory closures, job losses and a wave of public-sector resignations.
His remarks come days after Deputy Minister Prasanna Gunasena publicly challenged Namal to bring Basil back to Sri Lanka, arguing that recent court orders show the legal system is finally moving against the family.
