Both the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Ministry of Defence claim they do not have records related to former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's dual citizenship, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court. Submitting a B report detailing the progress of its investigations into a complaint filed by two [...]
Gota's dual citizenship file cannot be traced, says CID; Court of Appeal petitioned
Both the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Ministry of Defence claim they do not have records related to former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa's dual citizenship, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court.
Submitting a B report detailing the progress of its investigations into a complaint filed by two civil society activists on Mr. Rajapaksa's dual citizenship, the CID told court it submitted a written request to the Department of Immigration and Emigration asking for documents related to Mr Rajapaksa's dual citizenship certificate.
The Department had replied that at the time the dual citizenship certificate was issued in 2005, matters related to dual citizenship had been handled by the Ministry of Defence. As such, none of the relevant documents was with the Department of Immigration and Emigration, it had told the CID.
The CID had then written to the Ministry of Defence asking for the documents, only to be informed that matters related to dual citizenship had been handled by the Department of Immigration and Emigration and that the Ministry did not have the documents sought by the CID.
As such, the CID on Thursday requested the Colombo Chief Magistrate to issue an order to the Department's Controller General to submit the documents relating to Mr Rajapaksa's dual citizenship certificate to the CID. Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne granted the CID's request and ordered the Controller General to submit the documents to the CID.
The two civil society activists, Gamini Viyangoda and Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara, have now filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal seeking an order to quash the purported dual citizenship certificate of Mr. Rajapaksa.
In their writ petition, they note that they, through a motion, obtained copies of the B Reports submitted by the CID to the Colombo Magistrate's Court regarding the progress of its investigation into their complaint. The petitioners note that upon obtaining copies of the B Reports, they became aware that the investigations had revealed numerous matters pertaining to the purported grant of citizenship to Mr. Rajapaksa.
They say they reliably believe that there is no file in the possession of the Department of Immigration, or the Ministry of Defence, pertaining to Mr. Rajapaksa's purported dual citizenship and/or grant of Sri Lankan citizenship to him.
They say they also reliably believe that there has been tampering with the records of the Department's Citizenship Register, apparently to claim that a dual citizenship certificate was issued to Mr. Rajapaksa.
The petition notes that it is evident that Mr. Rajapaksa did not make an application for the grant of citizenship to himself as required by Section 19 of the Citizenship Act. As such, the purported dual citizenship certificate "is fraudulent and/or null and void and has no force and/or effect in law."
The petitioners also argue that Mr. Rajapaksa's Sri Lankan passport and National Identity Card had been issued unlawfully as he was not a citizen of Sri Lanka at the time of the issuance of such documents.
They say they are aware that a deposit has been paid on behalf of Mr. Rajapaksa for him to contest the November 16 presidential election. They say they are seeking interim relief from court due to the grave and irreparable harm and damage that would be caused to them and the citizens of Sri Lanka (including the threat to the country's territorial integrity, sovereignty and national security) if a non-citizen is permitted to contest for the presidency.
Accordingly, the petitioners have sought interim orders to suspend the operation of the purported dual citizenship certificate, passport and NIC of Mr. Rajapaksa, restrain the other respondents from acting on the basis that Mr. Rajapaksa is a citizen of Sri Lanka and restrain him, his agents and servants, from holding out and/or representing and/or claiming that he is a citizen of Sri Lanka until the hearing and determination of their application.
There are eight other respondents listed in the petition besides Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa. They are the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, the Commissioner General of the Department of Registration of Persons, the Minister of Internal & Home Affairs, the Secretary to the Ministry of Internal & Home Affairs, the Acting IGP, the Senior DIG – CID, the CID Director and the OIC of its Special Branch.
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