Rajapaksa and his spouse flew to Malé, within the Maldives, on an AN32 troop transport airplane from the Sri Lanka Air Force, the official mentioned.
Local air site visitors management refused the airplane’s request to land till an intervention by the Speaker of Maldivian Parliament Majlis and former President, Mohamed Nasheed, in response to the official. CNN has reached out to Nasheed for remark.
The embattled Rajapaksa was beforehand blocked from departing Sri Lanka a minimum of twice on Monday, after refusing to affix a public immigration queue on the Bandaranaike International Airport, a high-ranking army supply informed CNN.
Aides for Rajapaksa arrived on the airport in Colombo on Monday with 15 passports belonging to the president and members of his household — together with First Lady Ioma Rajapaksa — who had booked seats on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight leaving for Dubai at 6:25 p.m. native time, in response to the army supply.
But immigration officers declined to course of the passports given to them by presidential aides, as Rajapaksa and his household weren’t bodily current for cross checks. Eventually, the flight departed with out the president and his household on board, the supply added.
Another try was made to get the household on an Etihad flight scheduled to depart Colombo for Abu Dhabi at 9:20 p.m. native, in response to the supply, nonetheless the identical drawback occurred, because the Rajapaksas refused to affix the general public immigration queue for the flight.
In each cases, the Rajapaksa household was in a close-by airport lounge, ready for affirmation they might board with out queuing amongst members of the general public, the supply mentioned.
On Tuesday, a video launched by a former police officer claimed that Rajapaksa was staying in a personal home belonging to a high Air Force Commander. The Sri Lanka Air Force has denied the declare, describing it as propaganda supposed to tarnish the picture of the corps and its chief.
Forced to resign
Rajapaksa’s deliberate resignation on Wednesday — which follows months of protests over the nation’s crippling financial disaster — would go away him with out presidential immunity and doubtlessly uncovered to a raft of authorized fees within the nation.
He has been accused of high-level corruption and financial mismanagement, which in the end bankrupted the nation and triggered its worst monetary disaster since independence. He agreed to step down from his workplace on Saturday, after greater than 100,000 folks massed outdoors his residence and known as for his resignation. Some of the protesters then broke into the property and splashed round in his swimming pool.
Striking photos shared on social media confirmed demonstrators singing protest songs and chanting slogans calling for Rajapaksa to resign. Other pictures confirmed teams of demonstrators organising barbecue pits to grill and cook dinner meals.
Reporting contributed by journalist Rukshana Rizwie.