President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had been given sanctuary in the Maldives by the Government, had departed to Singapore Maldivian media reports.
According to The Maldives Journal tickets for Rajapaksa and three other individuals for the flight were issued from the Airline’s office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Tickets were issued to Singapore. It is expected that Singapore has provided a guarantee that asylum would be given to the President and his contingent.
He was escorted to Velana International Airport (VIA), by a launch of Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi. Ithaafushi is a property owned by business tycoon Mohamed Ali Janah. Janah is a close associate of Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid. After he arrived at the airport, he was escorted to Hulhulhe’ Island Hotel (HIH) at around 1000hrs local time and directly boarded the flight out of Male’.
