Galle Lit Fest Founder Geoffrey Dobbs Denied Entry To Lanka
December 20, 2013
Founder of the highly popular Galle Literary Festival and Australian Citizen Geoffrey Dobbs has been denied entry into Sri Lanka this morning after being deported last month, prompting Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to speculate in Parliament a short while ago that someone in the Rajapaksa regime may have an eye on his considerable property in the Galle District.
Geoffrey Dobbs
Dobbs who was asked by immigration authorities to leave Sri Lanka following spat with the Southern Province Governor Kumari Balasuriya just before CHOGM 2013, arrived in Colombo this morning but was not granted visa to enter the country. Dobbs had taken issue with the Australian Flag being displayed upside down during the preparations for the Commonwealth Summit in Galle and when his appeals were ignored by the Governor when he brought the matter to her notice, he proceeded to display the Sri Lankan flag upside down. The move irked the authorities who moved into high gear to deport Dobbs.
Raising the issue in Parliament, Wickremesinghe quipped: “Someone in the Government must be looking to acquire his property in Galle.”
The Opposition Leader noted that turning away an individual like Dobbs who had been a hotel operator and businessman in Sri Lanka for so long would hurt the country’s tourism industry.
After Dobbs’ deportation he had been advised to return to Sri Lanka and sort out his issues here, Wickremesinghe noted.
“But this morning he emailed me and said he had been denied entry to Sri Lanka,” Wickremesinghe told the House.
Dobbs, who was born in Britiain, was instrumental in organising the Galle Literary Festival that turned into a highly popular event for tourists and locals in Galle every January. The event, garnering high profile sponsorships like SriLankan Airlines and HSBC brought significant numbers of tourists and visitors to Galle each year. This year GLF was not held due to Dobbs’ poor health.
He made the above remarks when asked how someone has been sacked by the CPA after been found guilty of fraud is allowed to write to a CPA website.
Sara To Take Up Sunanda Deshapriya Issue With Groundviews Editor
December 20, 2013
“I give the editor of the site the freedom to decide what goes on it. However, since Groundviews is institutionally located at CPA, if anything appears that impacts the organization, I will take the issue up with the editor,” the Executive Director, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu told Colombo Telegraph.
Deshapriya
He made the above remarks when asked how someone has been sacked by the CPA after been found guilty of fraud is allowed to write to a CPA website.
Sunanda Deshapriya who had been associated with the CPA since 2002 was sacked on December 19, 2008.
“Deshapriya has personally returned in full the money owed to the organisation after an investigation into financial anomalies of a project he was responsible for,” Saravanamuttu said in a press statement.
Deshapriya’s articles appear in Groundviews and its Sinahala site from time to time.
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