Top Sri Lanka court clears way to strip former leaders of perks

FILE PHOTO: Sri Lanka's former president and newly elected prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse (C) gestures as he arrives at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy on October 28, 2018. Sri Lanka's sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resisted moves to evict him from his official residence on October 28, defiantly summoning allies for a crisis meeting as a thousand supporters stood guard. - AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Supreme Court cleared the final legal hurdle on Tuesday (Sept 9) to evict former presidents from their stately mansions and strip them of their luxury cars, bodyguards and pensions.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's leftist government has tabled a bill that would repeal a 1986 law granting lavish state housing and other entitlements to former presidents and their widows.