Asking @namalrajapaksa whether he chartered aircraft from @flysrilankan is pertinent, relevant and NECESSARY, considering past history. @TimesOnlineLK investigated the abuse of the national airline during the presidency of his father and found that...(1)
...@PresRajapaksa spent more than Rs. 785 million within three years to charter @flysrilankan aircraft for his visits abroad. Documents showed that the airbuses would often remain idle in various airports until Mr Rajapaksa finished his tours. (2)
@flysrilankan billed his office a total of Rs 785,079,185 for 90 aircraft movements in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This figure doesn't reflect other multiple costs such as crew accommodation. Those expenses were often met by Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad. (3)
We got the information through #RTI. We found that he usually flew on one of two Airbus A340s owned by @flysrilankan, registration numbers 4R-ADG(a 243-seater) and 4R-ADE (a 299-seater). These long-haul aircraft were the company's largest. (4)
The respective airbus would be unavailable to other paying passengers whenever Mr. Rajapaksa hired it. This could mean several days. The costliest excursion recorded within the three years—in terms of aircraft usage alone—were Mr Rajapaksa’s trips in June 2012 (5)
...to Lisbon in Portugal, Havana in Cuba, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Johannesburg in South Africa. The expenses are estimated at Rs. 98,270,460 or nearly Rs. 100 million. The plane left for Lisbon on June 15. It later dropped Mr Rajapaksa in Havana and returned to Colombo. (6)
It then departed from Colombo to Rio de Janeiro, where the former President was attending the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – and to where he most likely took a commercial flight; ferried him to Johannesburg and came back to Colombo by June 24. (7)
That same month, Mr Rajapaksa also chartered flights to Bangkok and London. Five months later, SriLankan Airlines hired out the 4R-ADG for another elaborate journey. It flew Mr Rajapaksa to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on November 19. (8)
After two days on the ground, the plane took him to Dubai. From there, the former President boarded a commercial flight for a private visit to Baltimore in the United States. The aircraft returned from Dubai to Colombo on November 22. It went back to Dubai on November 27...(9)
...to pick up Mr Rajapaksa, who was en route from Baltimore, and deposited him in Colombo on the same day. Here is the full story, based on documentary evidence: sundaytimes.lk/150719/news/ra… #SriLanka
Don't let this happen again. Not by any party, any politician, any ruler. (END)
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