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| RTI |
President Ranil Wickremesinghe spent a whopping amount of over Rs Rs 170 million of taxpayers' funds for his foreign travels along with Presidential delegations to eleven countries during his short term of two years since he assumed duties in July 2022, information obtained through Right To Information petitions revealed.
According to the information obtained through RTI petitions, the Presidential Secretariat spent Rs 178,664,182.3 for foreign trips from May 2022 to November 2023 for Presidential visits and delegations.
The Right To Information (RTI) petitions filed by journalist Dileep Amuthan attached to the Jaffna-based Tamil News Daily Uthayan were initially turned down by Information Officers attached to the Presidential Secretariat citing "National Security" reasons and later released following a directive issued by Right to Information Commission.
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| Information released on expenditure details of the foreign trips undertaken by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. |
After an appeal was lodged with the RTI Commission, the Secretariat agreed to release information with regard to the purchase of airline tickets for the Presidential trips. The Secretariat said details with regard to accommodation and other expenditure were handled by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
When similar RTI petitions were filed at the Foreign Ministry seeking information with regard to Presidential trips, the Ministry turned them down saying that that information was not in the custody of the Ministry. Later, the Ministry was forced to reveal that information after the appeal was lodged with the RTI Commission where the Ministry's Information officers appeared.
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| The total expenditure details released by the Presidential Secretariat on the foreign trips through RTI disclosures. Graphic:Uthayan |
However, information related to President Wickremesinghe's visit to India was granted but details with regard to trips to Uganda, Australia and Switzerland were turned down by the Secretariat saying the information was not within their custody. Appeals over these petitions are currently under consideration at the RTI Commission.
When expenditure details with regard to President Wickremesinghe's trip to Dubai to attend the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP28) were sought, the Secretariat informed the appellant that those details were with the Ministry of Environment. When the journalist followed it up with the Ministry of Environment, he was directed to contact the Presidential Secretariat to obtain that information. (Northeastern Monitor/ September 5/2024)
The original article in Tamil was published in Uthayan Daily on August 18, 2024.
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