Documents of Gotabaya’s NIC & citizenship certificate submitted to court
Posted on September 30th, 2019
Courtesy Adaderana
The Court of Appeal today (30) ordered the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and several other parties to submit the documents pertaining to the passport and the National Identity Card (NIC) issued to former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The petition filed by Gamini Viyangoda and Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara against recognizing the former Defence Secretary as a citizen of Sri Lanka was lodged with the Appeals Court today.
The petition was taken up before the Appeals Court President Justice Yasantha Kodagoda and Justice Arjuna Obeysekara this afternoon for the submission of the relevant documents.
Appearing on behalf of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva handed over several documents of his client’s citizenship certificate, NIC and copies of the testimonies given by Rajapaksa to the police on previous occasions.
Considering the presented documents, the judge bench ordered to Secretary to the Defence Ministry, the Controller General of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Commissioner General of the Department of Registration of Persons and Minister of Internal & Home Affairs and Provincial Councils & Local Government Vajira Abeywardena to submit the documents related to the NIC and the passport issued to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The petition is to be taken up for consideration before a three-judge bench on the 2nd of October.
September 30th, 2019 at 2:08 pm
Yes but they failed to submit the US Citizenship Renunciation Certificate. Without that it is illegal to issue him a SL passport. Ranil allegedly issued him a SL passport on April 17 which is illegal. Then Gota has produced that as evidence to the US Embassy to request to cancel US citizenship. It doesn’t work that way.
Gota must immediately show his US Citizenship Renunciation Certificate. Otherwise it is pointless. He has only shown application forms!
His SL dual citizenship certificate is dated 21 November 2005. Then how did he vote at the 18 November 2005 presidential election? He was a US citizen since 2003.
Violating the Citizenship Act of 1948 is a grave offence. Strangely no one has filed cases over that for obvious reasons. The NGO crowd who filed these cases want illegals to arrive in SL so they don’t want to bring up that matter. They don’t want Gota to contest the election.
October 1st, 2019 at 8:29 pm
If Gota had submitted correct information on applications given to the respective authorities and if he was awarded a passport, a NIC and his name was in the elections roll, common sense suggests that it is the fault of the officers concerned and not the applicant, in this case Mr. Gotabhaya. These officers need to be indicted for negligence and inattention to procedures.
It is not an offence to hold a Sri Lankan passport when one is a dual citizen and I know of many who have. In fact I too was asked to apply for a new NIC and a Sri Lankan passport but haven’t had the need to do so as yet.
October 1st, 2019 at 10:36 pm
An issue raised in the Case filed in the Court of Appeals contesting Gota’s dual citizenship application relates to who had the authority to sign and approve Gota’s dual citizenship papers when the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry had not yet been appointed and “only” a deputy Secretary had signed it, in addition to President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
Suffice it to say, that under the Constitution of Sri Lanka in effect then, all responsibilities of the Ministries devolve to the President in the absence of the officers usually appointed those responsibilities. Thus, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had the FULL LEGAL AUTHORITY to sign instead of the Permanent Secretary.
There is NO LEGAL VIOLATION here, and I expect the Appeals Court to decide that way.
October 2nd, 2019 at 1:02 am
President has no power to anyhow sign the dual citizenship certificates to his immediate relatives. In that case he has power to give a passport to a foreigner, give 100 million dollars to someone he likes and so on.
Many presidents over the years have acted like kings and queens breaking the law and constitution and escaped with no punishment ( for example Sirisena imported a duty free vehicle filling a form claiming to be MP for Polonnaruwa !) They have conveniently forgotten that they have been elected by people.
Those who applied for dual citizenship know the procedure to follow. It is not easy, There are forms to fill and there are document to submit. Although the final certificate is signed by the President, surely there should be many documents in the file.
October 2nd, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Randeniyage,
You are an absolute MUTT beyond REDEMPTION, are you not?
It is not as the brother, but as the Executive President of the country, acting under the powers assigned to him by the Constitution of the country, that Mahinda signed the dual citizenship papers ofGoitabaya.
In so doing, he brought on board the CHIEF ARCHITECT of VICTORY in War that eliminated a separatist terrorist group in 2 1/years, a task that had ELUDED ALL PREVIOUS GOVTS of Sri Lanka in the PREVIOUS 30 years!
If that is NOT A GOOD PRESIDENTIAL ACT that BENEFITED our Motherland MIGHTILY, I dont know what is a GOOD DEED!
It is SILLY ARGUMENTS like this that are CONTRARY to COMMON SENSE that CONFIRM that you do not LOVE our Mothereland and want to DESTROY our Motherland just to suit your PETTY INTERESTS!
October 2nd, 2019 at 3:06 pm
@Ananda
Yes, you are correct, President signs the certificate. But, there are documents to be submitted and a procedure to be followed. That is all I was saying.
If he returned to Sri Lanka on a Friday and Certificate was signed on Monday as reported , none of those procedures probably have followed.
I am discussing the legality of the transaction, not saying he should not be given citizenship. He could have got it easily even after the war as he has contributed so much to the country( even if Ranil were the president. Ranil gave him a passport which is in question now). But the president has definitely done what he should not do, if those dates are correct.
How about if Ranil gave the citizenship to Mahendran in a similar manner ? ( Singapore doesn’t allow dual citizenship anyway, but as an example , how do you feel ?) Here again, procedures have not been followed and given him a job without oath, ending up in disaster.
Constitution of a country cannot be written to suit one family only. Danger of a bad President is a risk that should be eliminated.
Architects alone cannot build a building, you also need Engineers, drafters, project managers , suppliers and workers. Everyone contributes, but this is what they have been assigned to do.
In a similar note, if President cannot hold a MP seat according to the constitution, how on this earth Sirisena imported a car claiming he is the MP for Polonnaruwa ? Am I an absolute Mutt by saying this ?
Do you think the Law of the country shall be applied to all but EXCLUDING ONE FAMILY ? (Because they ended the war you thought impossible to do ?). Please answer this question ONLY. Thank you.