A Right to Information (RTI) request has revealed that the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) funded the final departure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as President of Sri Lanka, to the Maldives via an Air Force aircraft on 13 July 2022.

The former President fled to the Maldives a few days after protesters occupied both the President’s House and the Presidential Secretariat in Fort on 9 July 2022, following a mass public protest in Colombo.

“The movement was carried out using an aircraft of the SLAF, maintained by funds allocated to the Air Force, via the Ministry of Defence, through the Treasury,” the SLAF stated. However, when asked in the RTI request, the SLAF did not disclose the cost of this trip.

The SLAF explained that they facilitated the movement due to the President’s role as the Head of State, Head of the Executive, Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, at that time (as per Article 30(1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka).

The SLAF noted that the movement was approved by the Ministry of Defence, but stated they could not disclose the details of the approval document due to the confidential nature of this air transit.

“As per existing practice, we do not calculate the fuel consumption for the air transport of the President, as he is the Head of State and falls under the VVIP category,” the SLAF said.

According to an SLAF press release on 13 July 2022, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards boarded an Air Force flight to the Maldives early that day.

Earlier in 2022, both the Information Officer and Designated Officer of the SLAF rejected the RTI application, stating the requested details could not be released under Section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016.

Following the rejection, an appeal was filed with the RTI Commission. After three hearings, the Commission concluded that Section 5(1)(b)(i) did not apply to the information request and ordered the SLAF to release the information to the appellant by 4 July 2023.

However, the SLAF did not release the information and submitted 26 extension requests to the Commission. The RTI Act does not provide for extensions to implement the Commission’s order.

An affidavit was submitted to the Commission to initiate legal proceedings under Section 39 of the RTI Act. The Commission called both parties for a non-compliance inquiry on 16 May 2024 and ordered the SLAF to announce their decision on the matter at the next hearing on 7 August 2024. Finally, the SLAF released the information on 12 July 2024.

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