Gotabaya Rajapaksa Leaves Singapore After Social Visit Pass Expires

The former Sri Lankan president is expected to arrive in Thailand on Thursday and stay there temporarily.

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Singapore, the city-state's immigration office stated on Thursday, 11 August. His social visit pass had expired, the office added.

Rajapaksa is expected to arrive in Thailand on Thursday and stay there temporarily. He fled Sri Lanka last month after a huge mob of angry protesters stormed his house on 9 July.

Undaunted by the suspensions on fuel distribution, huge groups of protesters had travelled from faraway places using a variety of means and gathered near his residence at Chatham Street in Colombo, demanding his immediate resignation.

Rajapaksa resigned a few days later and had appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as the caretaker president, who was eventually chosen as the country's new president by the Sri Lankan Parliament.

In his resignation letter, Rajapaksa had said, "I served my motherland to the best of my ability and I will continue to do so in the future."

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from British rule in 1948.

The main cause of the crisis is the shortage of foreign currency, which has led to a huge reduction in imports of essential items like petroleum, food, paper, sugar, lentils, medicines, and transportation equipment. You can read more about the other reasons here.

The crisis had been looming for quite a while but protests erupted in mid-March among motorists who had lined up for fuel.

(With inputs from AFP.)