Court extends overseas travel ban on Diana Gamage

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today (Nov. 17) extended the overseas travel ban imposed on State Minister Diana Gamage until December 15.

The state minister’s foreign travels were initially barred by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Nandana Amarasinghe on November 11 over a complaint challenging the veracity of her identity documents including the birth certificate, the National Identity Card (NIC) and the passport.

The complaint had been filed by social activist Oshala Herath.

Speaking on behalf of the state minister, President’s Counsel Sarath Jayamanne said an outside party that is not directly involved in the proceedings of the case had obtained the overseas travel ban on his client. Stating that an outside party cannot obtain such court orders, the president’s counsel requested the court to lift the ban.

However, President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsekularatne, who appeared on behalf of the plaintiff and the attorneys representing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) raised objections to this request.

Accordingly, the chief magistrate informed that the verdict of this request would be delivered on December 15. He also extended the foreign travel ban on State Minister Diana Gamage until then.

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

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

Mr. Wanninayake had 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.

During the court proceedings on November 11, Mr. Wanninayake urged 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.

He also 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.