PM intervenes for Wimal’s Europe visit

Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella has informed Parliament that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has intervened to facilitate legal clearance for MP Wimal Weerawansa to visit Europe, after he was stopped by CID officers at the airport over a passport discrepancy.

Kiriella said that the UPFA Colombo District Parliamentarian was questioned by the CID for having an invalid passport. 

Immediately after Parliament convened today, MP Dinesh Gunawardena inquired from the Prime Minister as to why Mr Weerawansa was detained for questioning by CID officers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

Wickremesinghe then responded saying there is nothing he can do if the MP was detained due to a court order and that if the reason was something else he would look into the matter and inform Parliament. 

Accordingly, the Prime Minister had looked into the incident and was notified that the MP was detained for questioning after he produced a passport which had been made void following a request due to misplacement, Kiriella said. 

However, the Prime Minister has intervened to make arraignment required for MP Weerawansa to travel abroad, he further said.