Immigration and Emigration Controller General M.N. Ranasinghe has confirmed that Geetha Kumarasinghe is the only member of the present Parliament holding dual citizenship.
The Controller General has made this confirmation in response to an application made to him under the RTI act by the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, said its Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi yesterday.
Hettiarachchi in a press release said the dual citizenship of members of Parliament was a hot topic of discussion and debate in the country in recent times.
As this occupied a special importance, the PAFFREL as a civil organisation and an election monitor, considered it as its responsibility to obtain correct information regarding this controversy.
As such, the PAFFREL submitted an application under the RTI Act to the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration requesting a list of Parliamentarians holding dual citizenship.
The Controller General responding to the request had stated that he obtained a list of names of all Parliamentarians with their dates of birth and NIC numbers from the Secretary General of Parliament and fed them into the computer date system consisting of names of dual citizens and for further accuracy checked with documents relating to dual citizens maintained before setting up the computer data.
All this showed that only Geetha Kumarasinghe had been issued with a dual citizenship certificate number 17096A. the Controller had also emphasized that no one else among the balance 224 members of Parliament had been issued with Dual Citizenship certificates.