Can Gota run for presidency sans Uncle Sam’s courtesy?
Gamman claims the presidential hopeful asked him expert legal opinion on American law on renouncing US citizenship
Last Sunday the outgoing US Ambassador paid a courtesy call on the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa at his official residence down Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7. It was to bid farewell to a person whom the United States Government had publicly labeled as persona non grata – a person who was not welcome in the Bald Eagle’s eyes of Uncle Sam to revisit Lanka’s presidential suite in 2015 – and had publicly proclaimed the Obama Administration’s wish for regime change in Sri Lanka, as far back as the year two thousand and thirteen.
Last Sunday’s rendezvous was to be just a civilised chat over a cup of Ceylon Tea, merely perhaps to say, ‘no hard feelings, brother’. But, as an English language daily, the Island, reported on Wednesday, the Indian born US Ambassador Atul Keshap had told the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that his brother, Gotabaya was very unpopular. And that, according to the Island report, had based his assessment on information received by him.
If the Island report be true, quite uncivil of Keshap, don’t you think, of even broaching such a delicate subject as a topic of conversation when a simple “I enjoyed my tenure in this wonderful island of yours, it's indeed a pleasure to have been in this paradise isle’ would have made do; and, after further exchanges of such pleasantries, taken his leave with a final shake of hands and politely left.
But what he is alleged to have told the former president as a parting shot is far worse. According to the Jaffna based Tamil daily “Kaalaikkathir” which first broke the news on Tuesday was that the US government nor the western nations would welcome Gotabaya as a presidential candidate at the 2020 elections.
The Unites States Embassy issued a strong official denial that its outgoing envoy had tried to make a last ditch bid to convince the elder sibling Mahinda that his younger brother will not be acceptable to the US and other European governments.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in response to the news report published in a Tamil daily newspaper in Jaffna regarding the content of a meeting held between former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap, the US Embassy chose to remain non-committal and, instead, to steadfast follow the old diplomatic dictum ‘mum’s the word’. No positive confirmation. No negative denial either.
All that the Embassy had to say when asked by the newspapers was that the outgoing Ambassador met political leaders as a matter of routine on his departure and that “the Ambassador honours the confidence of private meetings and does not discuss the contents of such meetings publicly.”
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reaction was also to diplomatically deny that the US Ambassador said anything of that sort in his tete-a-tete over tea. That the departing US Ambassador had only sought an audience with him to say fond farewell to an old foe. Not to deliver a lethal missive from the US government that the Trump administration had not changed its stance nor changed it spots but was firmly fixed to its ‘regime change’ policy and would not entertain the prospect of another Rajapaksa regime though headed by a sibling with a different first name.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mahinda Rajapaksa denied reports that he was told by the outgoing US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap that the US will not allow former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to contest and become the President of Sri Lanka. He said that the meeting with Atul Keshap was only a courtesy call by the outgoing envoy.
But little may he have known that, as they say in Sinhalese, ‘Yana yaka korahath bindhagena yanne’: The departing devil breaks the pot and destroys everything in his wake on his way out. And leaves the host to clean up the mess after he’s goddamned gone.
The 64 million dollar question, however, is who leaked this info? And why? And why to a Jaffna-based Tamil newspaper? And why a Canada-based Tamil columnist picked it up and chose to spill the dirt on the street?
But whilst the controversy rages over what may have or not happened at this otherwise formal ritual courtesy meeting between the ex Sri Lankan president and the ex United States envoy over the future fate of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s seeming bid to go for gold, one hitch surfaces to light.
And that is the immense hurdle the Pohottuwa primed mustang will have to jump before he even fancies a chance of making his appearance at the 2020 presidential races. That is the question to which only the US of A has the answer. And has it concealed in its wallet, tucked in its hip pocket. And why is that?
The question of Gotabaya’s ability to forsake his USA citizenship at the drop of the star and stripes baseball cap he presently wears on his head coupled with the cricket T shirt he dons on his torso with the Sri Lankan Lion Flag boldly emblazoned on it, and to do so unilaterally must give pause, give birth to thought. Whether just by saying Talaq, Talaq, Talaq as Muslim men are entitled to do to divorce not merely their dual but their quadruple wives and get rid of an encumbrance, which years before they had embraced with open arms and with great enthusiasm, will do the trick when it comes to renouncing US citizenship?
For ay, there’s a rub, that makes uncertain presidential ambition of so long life. The hitch being contesting the 2020 election with the handicap of being a dual citizen. Expressly forbidden by the 19th Amendment and endorsed unanimously by the Supreme Court ruling last year when Swiss dual citizenship holder Geetha Kumarasinghe was forced to relinquish her parliamentary seat amidst her celluloid tears.
But no fear. Gotabaya with his battery of the best legal brains in town to defend his interests in court, has a secret missile. So secret a secret that even he did not know he had it in his arsenal till it emerged out of the blue from a long forgotten buried silo.
And the secret weapon?
Enter the Dragon. Or is it the Legal Eagle? Udaya Gammanpila. Expert not only on Sri Lankan law, not only blessed with a special gravitational pull toward the Criminal Procedure Code but also one highly prized as a legal luminary - a lawful shining star in the judicial firmament - when it comes to international law, with his choice specialty being his thorough grasp of the intricacies of the American legal system, with specific focus on how best to revoke US citizenship.
And according to him, in his considered and valued high priced opinion, it can be dropped like a hat, in the manner a hot potato is dropped when it becomes too hot to handle.
Please stifle your sniggles. Don’t burst into laughs. At least not in public. Maintain a pan face. For who knows what the future holds. He may well be a potential President's Counsel in the near future, even the Chief Justice of Lanka’s Supreme Court for that matter; or at least the Attorney General if the Rajapaksas return to power. And presently, busy as he undoubtedly is, in making many court appearances mainly to defend himself against charges he faces of allegedly defrauding an Australian couple of millions of bucks by forging their signatures to his own profit, this is what the learned, self-appointed counsel of Gotabaya has to say in his client’s interest:
But like giving a dog a bone to keep it happy and gnawing, lets give the man a choice voice cut and a chance to air his expert legal opinion – an opinion he claims his lord and master – bade him seek and deliver. After all, what are man’s best friends for?
So here goes. And take a deep breath before you dive into Gammanpila's twisted legal mind.
According to Gammanpila renouncing American citizenship is a simple affair. All you gotta do is walk right in to the nearest USA embassy and tell the clerk there that you wish to renounce your citizenship. You will be given a form to fill - which he held up high at the news conference he held on Monday to proclaim to all and sundry, the extent of his research and the finality of his conclusions – and then swear an oath of renunciation. And that’s it. Simple. No three Talaqs called for. One will do.
But at the risk of being impudent to venture forth to question Gammanpila’s legal brilliance, may one dare, at the risk of being proven false, to pose the question, whether its all that simple? Easier than a snake sloughing its skin? In order to assume the original hide?
Sorry, for the impertinence in having to teach him how to suck eggs but here’s some news for Mr. Gammanpila which, if he takes it, may well make him serve his client better. Put his client in the picture as to what actually happens in practice.
Under Section 349(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of the USA all it takes, for a person holding dual US citizenship to renounce it, is to appear in person before a U.S. consular or diplomatic officer, in a foreign country at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate; and sign an oath of renunciation.
Simple, isn’t it? Not like Geetha having to post a letter renouncing her Swiss citizenship and have to ask the postman day after day ‘Please, Mr. Postman, is there a letter, a letter for me, I am waiting for a letter from the Swiss you see?’ The US Government demands that a person who has the impudence to swine like spurn the pearl of US citizenship to show his face in person. As the clause of the act insists, one cannot do so by mail, electronically, or through agents.
But though Section 349(a)(5) of the Act may seem renunciation of USA citizenship to be a very simple process, one that can be done within two weeks of a personal visit to one’s nearest downtown USA Embassy or consular office, practically its far from that.
The United States of America sees the grant of citizenship as a sacred covenant with its recipient. It does not bestow it lightly and it does not accept its repudiation lightly. Once granted, it becomes a binding agreement between the USA and the person concerned. It cannot be repudiated unilaterally at the whim and fancy of the recipient. And the very intention of renouncing the awesome prestige of holding US citizenship is treated with the utmost repugnance, a slap in Uncle Sam’s face, the ultimate insult to the grant of solicited hospitality.
There is also the added threat that those who renounce US citizenship and are granted it will never be able to set foot on that vast soil again. For, as the Act states, “former U.S. citizens would be required to obtain a visa to travel to the United States or show that they are eligible for admission pursuant to the terms of the Visa Waiver Program. If unable to qualify for a visa, the person could be permanently barred from entering the United States. “
Furthermore, once renunciation of citizenship has duly taken place it is irrevocable. Under the Act, those contemplating a renunciation of U.S. citizenship should understand that the act is irrevocable, except as provided in section 351 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1483), and cannot be canceled or set aside absent a successful administrative review or judicial appeal.
Here’s the lowdown what will happen to a person who, holding dual citizenship, walks into a US Embassy and announces to a stupefied clerk there, that he wishes to renounce US citizenship. He will then be met by a consular officer who will give him a set of forms to be filled and forwarded to the embassy. There is no time frame. He can take his time. Once the forms are handed over, the process begins before the Oath of Renunciation can be done. And this can take an awful long time. It’s in the hands of the USA Government. And like Geetha having to wait the postman to bring her glad tidings from the Swiss Alps, Gotabaya too, will have to wait the summons to the American Embassy to be told Washington has given the all clear for him to sign the oath of renunciation.
For its only after the intention to renounce is informally expressed that the process begins before one can make his oath of renunciation. The local Embassy will forward the filled application form to the US State Department which in turn will forward it to several relevant agencies which will then proceed to process the application.
Some of the agencies the request will be referred to will be the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Inland Revenue.
The task of these agencies will be to ascertain whether the applicant seeking renunciation of citizenship has been involved in money laundering, in any criminal activity, in drug dealings, in human rights abuse, in war crimes, whether he is or she is in the midst of divorce proceedings, in tax evasion, in short, in every gamut of activity that, in their discretion, may hold their attention.
Depending on the case in hand, the process can take three months to three years. For US law sets no time frame and leaves the investigative agencies to take their own cool time to furnish their reports.
In Gotabaya’s case the US Tamil Diaspora has filed many law suits against him in the US courts alleging war crimes. And until the due process has been exhausted, and the judicial cases done with, it’s rarely that the US Government sets a US citizen free from US bondage. If the agencies find that the applicant has divorce proceedings pending against him or faces war crime charges or human rights abuses or any other criminal charge in a US court, he will have to wait till the proceedings are over and matters of alimony settled before his request to free him from the manacles of matrimony to the US will be granted.
But, of course, politics, rule supreme, even in the US of A” and should by chance the US Administration see in Gotabaya a twinkling star to shine upon American interests in the South Asian region, no doubt, his request for renunciation will be done in double quick time. Not in two weeks. But in forty eight hours.
But if the US Government does not discern any disadvantage in having Gotabaya at the helm, if they do not notice the wink in his eyes eastward , the US Government will have the power to delay Gotabaya’s application to renounce his USA citizenship rights – even if he make his initial application on Monday morn- for well over three years and thus successfully debar him from contesting Lanka Twenty-Twenty Presidential Poll.
That’s the bad news Gammanpila perforce must give to his client.
But miracles can happen overnight. Three months ago American Trump and North Korean Kim were at each others throat, threatening to nuke each other, with the world’s peace imperiled. This Tuesday saw them in a hug. America had changed its policy. So had Kim’s Korea . Both nuts had cracked open to reality.
That’s the good news that Gammanpila can tender to Gotabaya. Even though, after this week’s allegation that outgoing US Ambassador had spelt out current American policy towards Gotabaya to Mahinda, makes it rather a long shot.