Basil Rajapaksa | |
---|---|
බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ பசில் ராஜபக்ஷ | |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 8 July 2021 – 3 April 2022 | |
President | Gotabaya Rajapaksa |
Prime Minister | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Preceded by | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Succeeded by | Ali Sabry |
Minister of Economic Development | |
In office 22 April 2010 – 9 January 2015 | |
President | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Prime Minister | D. M. Jayaratne |
Preceded by | Office Established |
Succeeded by | Ranil Wickremesinghe |
Member of Parliament for Gampaha District | |
In office 22 April 2010 – 26 June 2015 | |
Majority | 425,861 Preferential Votes |
Member of Parliament for National List | |
In office 8 July 2021 – 9 June 2022 | |
Preceded by | Jayantha Ketagoda |
Succeeded by | Dhammika Perera |
In office 19 September 2007 – 9 February 2010 | |
Preceded by | Mohamed Ismail Anwar Ismail |
Personal details | |
Born | Dominion of Ceylon | 27 April 1951
Citizenship | Sri Lankan American[1] |
Nationality | Sri Lankan |
Political party | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna |
Spouse | Pushpa Rajapaksa |
Children | Thejani, Bimalka and Ashantha |
Alma mater | Isipathana College Ananda College |
Website | basilrajapaksa |
Basil Rajapaksa (born 27 April 1951) is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list.
He was also a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament from 2007 to 2015. During the period of 2005–2010 he served as a presidential senior advisor for President Mahinda Rajapaksa and in 2007 he was appointed as a member of parliament from the national list. He was the Cabinet minister for Economic Development[2] in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second term (2010–2015). In the 2010 parliamentary election, he was elected from Gampaha district by receiving the highest number of preferential votes in Sri Lanka. He entered the parliament again from the national list and was appointed the Finance Minister during which he was accused of extreme negligence and mismanagement resulting in the worsening of the Sri Lankan economic crisis and was ultimately forced to resign under increasing protests by general public in the 2022 Sri Lankan political crisis. He resigned his seat in parliament on 9 June 2022.[3]