At the party leader’s meeting (May 25), it was allegedly suggested that Ali Sabri Raheem, a member of parliament for the Puttalam district who was recently detained for the possession of unreported gold and cell phones, be dismissed.
M. A. Sumanthiran of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) first put out the pertinent suggestion, which was afterwards endorsed by Lakshman Kiriella of the opposition party and other members of the ruling party.
The party leaders consequently concurred that a motion signed by all parliamentarians should be used to request the resignation of the contentious MP Raheem.
On May 23, Raheem was detained at Katunayake’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), along with a quantity of unreported gold and mobile phones.
The Puttalam district MP, who was traveling back to the island from abroad, had 91 mobile phones and 3.5kg of unreported gold seized by customs officers.
Later, after receiving a Rs. 7.5 million fine, he was allowed to go after paying it, but the unreported gold and cellphones were seized.
