The problem caused by the detention of an Airbus aircraft belonging to Russian Aeroflot Airlines from leaving Sri Lanka has been resolved to some extent.
Following a complaint by Celestial Aviation Trading Ltd. based in Ireland, the Colombo Commercial High Court issued an injunction restraining the aircraft from leaving the country on June 2 and suspending it on June 6 following a series of heated incidents.
There are a lot of confusing points in this whole case.
However, the source of this problem is a legal action taken on behalf of a client by a well-known law firm in Sri Lanka. This eventually led to a diplomatic rift between Sri Lanka and Russia.
The fiscal officer of the Colombo Commercial High Court had gone to the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake with an order to prevent the flight from leaving the country. The flight attendant at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport is a person who has dual citizenship. When the order was brought to him he had said that he was waiting for it.
By June 3, the issue of the aircraft began to flare up at the diplomatic and political level, with the Colombo Commercial High Court Judge stating that he had not issued an enjoining order. However, on the day before yesterday (06) the judge issued another order suspending the enjoining order which is said to be not issued by him.
In the end, however, the burden is falling on the shoulders of two lawyers from a well-known law firm and the fiscal of the Colombo Commercial High Court. The work of the fiscal was also suspended yesterday (07) afternoon. It was reported that the Attorney General was preparing to file a case against the two lawyers and Fiscal Officer.