Flee

According to a high-ranking security official, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s President left the country shortly before he was due to formally step down with his wife. The couple flew to Malé, Maldives, on a Sri Lanka’s Air Force transport plane.

Local air traffic control refused the plane’s request to land until an intervention by the Speaker of Maldivian Parliament Majlis and former President, Mohamed Nasheed, according to the official. Rajapaksa was previously blocked to depart Sri Lanka at least twice on Monday, July 11^th after refusing to join a public immigration queue at the Bandaranaike International Airport, a high-ranking military told CNN.

Besides his wife, there are fifteen passports belonging to the president family member who had booked seats on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight leaving for Dubai, according to the military source. But the flee scheme was declined by the immigration officers as Rajapaksa and his family were not physically present for cross-checks, perhaps due to security reasons.

Another attempt was made to get the family members on another flight to Abu Dhabi from Colombo later that day, however, the same problem occurred, as the Rajapaksa’s refused to join the public immigration check for the flight while waiting in a nearby airport lounge.

Rajapaksa’s planned resignation in early July would leave him without presidential immunity and potentially exposed to a raft of legal charges in the country. He has been accused of high-level corruption and economic mismanagement, triggered the worst financial crisis in decades.

After Rajapaksa fled his house, more than 100.000 people massed outside his residence and called for his resignation. Some of the protesters then broke into the property and splashed around his swimming pool and managed to ablaze the Palace.

On July 14^th, the country’s air force confirmed the 73-year-old flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security officials and intends to travel on to a third country. Rajapaksa also appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president. Later, Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency and told the military to restore order, according to BBC.

According to CNN, Rajapaksa announced his resignation by email after fleeing to Singapore on a flight from the Maldives. Parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardenena had received the email but said that “we cannot accept such an email at face value.”. Abeywardenena expecting to receive a physical copy of the letter.