Economic crisis fundamental rights case (SC FR 195 & 212/2022)
Current status of the Economic crisis fundamental rights case (SC FR 195 & 212/2022)
On 14 Nov 2023 the Supreme Court, by a 4-1 majority, held that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa and several senior economic officials breached the public trust doctrine and violated the petitioners' right to equal protection under Article 12(1) of the Constitution, through cumulative decisions and omissions - including large tax cuts, delayed corrective action, mismanagement of foreign reserves and debt, and failure to seek timely external assistance - that contributed to Sri Lanka's 2019-2022 economic crisis. The fundamental-rights petition was filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka and co-petitioners in Jun 2022. This is a constitutional/fundamental-rights judgment, not a criminal prosecution: the Court did not convict Rajapaksa of a criminal offence and imposed no custodial sentence, only costs.
What’s happened
This is the strongest proven adverse legal finding against Rajapaksa on record. The accurate label is a finding of constitutional responsibility / fundamental-rights violation - it must never be described as a criminal conviction, and words like 'convicted', 'guilty', 'sentenced' or 'imprisoned' misstate this proceeding.
- Court
- Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
- Next hearing / due
- No upcoming hearing announced