By Susitha Fernando

Colombo, Oct 7 (IANS): Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the country's Auditor General to investigate the reasons for the ongoing economic crisis through a petition filed against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his two brothers -- Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa.

Granting leave to proceed with the fundamental rights petition filed by academics and civil rights activists, the five-judge bench ordered the Auditor General to conduct an audit inquiry on the reasons for not seeking an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance early when the country was facing a worst ever economic crisis, as well as a a decision to settle the sovereign bond of $500 million in January this year using the existing limited foreign reserves.

The court also directed the Auditor General to investigate a decision made by the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka to artificially manipulate exchange rates and set the value at 203 LKR against the US dollar.

The Court further directed the Central Bank Governor to produce copies of all communications and recommendations shared between the Gotabaya, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Finance Minister Basil, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Monetary Board and the former Governors of the Central Bank.

The petitioners have requested the court to take necessary action to find out the causes of the economic crisis and find the people responsible for it.

The island nation is going through its worst ever economic crisis since its independence from the British 74 years ago and uncontrollable inflation and dollar crunch has forced shortages in all essentials including food, fuel, medicine and electricity.