Court imposes foreign travel ban on Diana Gamage

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court today (Nov. 11) imposed a temporary restriction on the foreign travels of State Minister Diana Gamage. The ban is effective until November 17.

The foreign travel ban was imposed when a complaint filed by social activist Oshala Herath challenging the veracity of the identity documents of State Minister Diana Gamage including her passport, birth certificate and National Identity Card (NIC) was called before the court today.

During the court proceedings, Mr. Wanninayake requested the court to put a temporary halt to the foreign travels of State Minister Diana Gamage, citing reliable information claiming that she had been planning to fly out of the country in the late hours of that day.

He went on to point out that the investigations would completely be hampered if the lawmaker is allowed to travel overseas.

Mr. Wanninayake explained the state minister can present submissions to the court and seek an order to briefly lift the travel ban, if necessary.

After taking into consideration the submissions presented by the attorneys, the chief magistrate ordered the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration to ban the overseas travels of the state minister temporarily and to take relevant measures in this regard.

Previously, the Colombo chief magistrate Nandana Amarasinghe had issued notice to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) asking to present facts on November 10 with regards to the investigations into the matter.

Notice was issued after considering the facts submitted through a motion filed by a group of attorneys including Attorney-at-Law, Gunaratne Wanninayake.

Wanninayake has requested the court to inquire from CID officials whether State Minister Gamage has dual citizenship in the UK and Sri Lanka and the progress of investigations so far.

Accordingly, when the case was taken up yesterday, the CID was ordered to submit details on the progress of investigations on December 15.