July 27, 2022
A group of parliamentarians in the U.K. have added its voice to people calling for the Singapore government to investigate former Presdient of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa of alleged war crimes.
Sri Lanka is a candidate for debt relief based on its climate action, and Singapore is positioning itself as a bastion of carbon-market transparency and sustainable development in Asia.
Human rights groups are said to be compiling lists of business people in Sri Lanka and Singapore, as well as government officials in both nations, who are complicit in covering up the alleged bad deeds done by Rajapaksa stretching over two decades.
U.K.’s Elliot Colburn, MP:
It takes principled government officials to complete the work of the UN to make people accountable for war crimes, no matter how powerful they are.
Singapore can show the way. Holding people to account is a competitive advantage. (Or perhaps not yet?)
This will be important too …when eventually nations will want to hold Russia’s Valdimir Putin to account. See Rajapaksa’s apparent support of Putin, below.
See also this:
https://www.elliotcolburn.co.uk/news/human-rights-abuses-sri-lanka
Rajapaksa has had his visa extended to stay in Singapore for another two weeks.
Sri Lanka’s ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa gets short-term visit pass in Singapore extended | The Straits Times
See also
There is a global debt crisis coming – and it won’t stop at Sri Lanka
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2022/jul/26/global-debt-crisis-sri-lanka-foreign-capital?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
PEOPLE FOR EQUALITY AND RELIEF IN LANKA
1629 K Street, Suite 300 | Washington, D.C. 20006 | pearlaction.org | contact@pearlaction.org
Our mission is to advocate for justice and self-determination for the Tamil people in the North-East of Sri Lanka.
PEARL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
July 26, 2022
Ms. Daphne HONG Fan Sin, PPA(P), PPA(G), PBS, PPA(E)
Solicitor-General / Director-General
International Affairs Division
Attorney-General’s Chambers
Government of Singapore
Via E-mail: daphne_hong@agc.gov.sg; AGC_IAD@agc.gov.sg
Request to Investigate Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Dear Ms. Hong:
We, the undersigned organizations, write to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (“AGC”) to urgently request that Gotabaya Rajapaksa (“Rajapaksa”) be investigated and, as
appropriate, prosecuted for his role in alleged serious crimes under international law in
Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former president and defense secretary, is reportedly
in Singapore on a Short Term Visit Pass.1 Rajapaksa submitted his resignation as Sri
Lanka’s president via e-mail from Singapore on July 14, 2022,2 and is thus no longer
immune from prosecution.
…
Gotabaya is not the only person wanted for accountability who’s residing in Singapore:
Arjuna Mahendran
See this from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Arjuna Mahendran | |
|---|---|
| In office 26 January 2015 – 30 June 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Ajith Nivard Cabraal |
| Succeeded by | Indrajit Coomaraswamy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran 16 July 1959 (age 63) Colombo, Ceylon |
| Nationality | Sri Lankan (Previously) Singaporean (Currently) |
| Alma mater | Royal College, Colombo Balliol College, Oxford |
| Profession | former Banker |
Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran is a Sri Lankan born, Singaporean economist and banker.[1] He is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), having been appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015 and served until the end of his term in 30 June 2016.[2] He was the former Managing Director of HSBC Private Bank, Chief Investment Officer of Emirates NBD as well as Chairman and Director-General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.[3][4][5] Mahendran is currently residing in Singapore, which has refused to extradite him on a request from Sri Lanka routed through interpol.[6][7][8]
(NOTE: Wikipedia information sometimes needs updating / correcting)