Concerns arise in P’ment over Govt’s decision to issue Weeratunga new passport

The Government’s decision to issue a new passport to former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, who is a key suspect in a series of local and international investigations, came under fire in Parliament yesterday.

Weeratunga, a close relative of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, originally ran a small Sri Lankan restaurant in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. Although he was appointed as Sri Lanka’s envoy to Moscow by Rajapaksa, Weeratunga never returned to Sri Lanka after his diplomatic career ended soon after President Sirisena was voted into power.

Questioning why Weeratunga had not returned to Sri Lanka, JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa criticised the Government for issuing him a new passport. 

“An investigation is now underway into his role in the Sri Lanka Air Force’s purchase of MiG-27s. Even the Ukrainian Government has accused him of selling weapons to rebels in Ukraine by misusing his diplomatic immunity. There is another investigation going on against Weeratunga into the sudden death of a Sri Lankan who was employed in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia. Despite all these issues the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved the Controller of Immigration and Emigration’s move to issue him a new passport. His wife has returned to Sri Lanka to collect the new passports. If he was so badly wanted for so many investigations why was a new passport issued? Making use of this new passport, he met MP G.L. Peiris and others in Thailand. It is clear that he is allowed to skip arrest and avoid legal proceedings with the knowledge of the Foreign Ministry and the Immigration Controller,” said MP Jayatissa.

According to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs, S.B. Nawinne, Weeratunga was entitled to an ordinary passport after his diplomatic passport got cancelled and the Department of Immigration and Emigration had simply followed routine procedure.

“The diplomatic passports issued to Weeratunga and his family were cancelled on 6 March 2015. His wife visited Sri Lanka on 9 March 2016 to collect the ordinary passports replacing the diplomatic passports. This is an incident which took place well before I took over the ministry. INTERPOL has already been informed about the charges against him. Anybody can obtain a passport and there is no issue with him obtaining an ordinary passport. There was no court order preventing him from getting a new passport,” Nawinne. (AH)