SINGAPORE, Aug 11, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa left Singapore Thursday, the city-state's immigration office said,
after his social visit pass expired.
"The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirms that Mr Gotabaya
Rajapaksa left Singapore on 11 August 2022," the office said in reply to an
AFP query.
It did not say where the former leader was headed to but the Thai foreign
ministry, as well as a source in Colombo, said Wednesday he was seeking a new
safe haven in Thailand.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on July 13 and then to Singapore, where he
announced his resignation after months of protests over Sri Lanka's economic
meltdown.
Tens of thousands of people overran his official residence last month over
acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine endured by Sri Lanka's 22 million
people since late last year.
"His Singapore visa runs out on Thursday," a close associate of Rajapaksa
told AFP in Colombo.
"He had applied for an extension, but it had not come through as of Wednesday
morning."
The source said Rajapaksa now planned to go to Thailand for a short stay and
return to Singapore.
The Thai foreign ministry confirmed it had received a request from Colombo
for the 73-year-old deposed leader to visit Thailand and an assurance that he
would not seek political asylum there.
"The Thai side received a request for the former president to enter Thailand
from the current government of Sri Lanka," ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat
said in a statement.
"The stay is temporary in nature with the aim of onward travel. No political
asylum has been sought."
Sri Lankans arriving in Singapore get a 30-day visa, but Singapore
authorities said they had initially given Rajapaksa only two weeks and later
extended the visa by another two weeks.
The Rajapaksa confidant told AFP that he was keen to return home as protests
against his administration had fizzled out, but his successor Ranil
Wickremesinghe had advised him against an early return.