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Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore on Thursday after his social visit pass expired, the city-state’s immigration office said.
“The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has confirmed that Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore on August 11, 2022,” the office said in response to AFP’s inquiry.
It did not say where the former leader was, but a source in Thailand’s foreign ministry, as well as in Colombo, said on Wednesday that he was looking for a new safe haven in Thailand.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and then to Singapore on July 13, announcing his resignation after months of protests over Sri Lanka’s economic collapse.
Last month, tens of thousands flocked to his official residence as Sri Lanka’s 22 million people suffered severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine since late last year.
“His Singapore visa will expire on Thursday,” a close associate of Rajapaksa told AFP in Colombo.
“He applied for an extension but as of Wednesday morning it had not been approved.”
Rajapaksa is now planning to travel to Thailand for a brief stop before returning to Singapore, the source said.
Thailand’s foreign ministry confirmed it had received a request from Colombo for the 73-year-old ousted leader to visit Thailand, with assurances that he would not seek political asylum there.
“The Thai side has received a request from the current Sri Lankan government for the former president to enter Thailand,” ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said in a statement.
“The stay is temporary and the purpose is to continue travelling. No political asylum was sought.”
Sri Lankans arriving in Singapore are given a 30-day visa, but Singaporean authorities said they initially gave Rajapaksa only two weeks before extending the visa for another two weeks.
A close friend of Rajapaksa told AFP he was keen to return as protests against his government had subsided, but his successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, advised him not to return early.
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