MR cousin Jaliya Wickramasuriya expected to surrender in US court 

Cousin of Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Former Ambassador to the US Jaliya Chitran Wickramasuriya he is expected to surrender to US authorities at a US District Court on Tuesday (29). According to sources he will be arraigned on a five-count indictment for money laundering, wire fraud and visa fraud violations. 
 
Wickramasuriya is no longer a fugitive from justice in the US, the court documents state, indicating that the former Sri Lankan Ambassador’s lawyers have undertaken to produce him in court on Tuesday.
 
A US Grand Jury indicted Wickramasuriya in May 2018 and the former Sri Lankan ambassador has been a fugitive in the country where he holds permanent residency since October 18, 2018. He continues to evade arrest in Sri Lanka where he faces similar charges pertaining to the purchase of the same property in Washington DC during his tenure as Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US from 2008-2014. 
 
The case marks the first time that a foreign head of mission has been indicted by the US Government. It is also the first time a Sri Lankan Ambassador has been prosecuted in a foreign jurisdiction.
 
Wickramasuriya who was appointed Ambassador by his cousin, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was indicted by the US District Court in the District of Columbia (Washington DC) on five counts, specifically, on two counts of money-laundering and two counts of wire fraud and one count of visa fraud violation by making false declarations in official US Government documentation in May 2018.