Sri Lanka’s former President and six-time Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on Friday (August 22) on charges of using state funds for a private trip abroad during his Presidency.
Wickremesinghe, 76, was arrested at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters, where he was summoned to record a statement in connection with an investigation into the alleged misuse of government funds, police said.
He has been accused of using state funds to travel to England to attend a convocation ceremony of his wife, Prof Maithree, in September 2023.
“We are producing him before the Colombo Fort magistrate,” police said, adding that they were pressing charges for using state resources for personal purposes.
In 2023, Wickremesinghe made a stop in London on his return from Havana, where he had attended the G77 summit. During the visit, he and his wife, Maithree, took part in a ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton.
Wickremesinghe has stated that his wife covered her own travel expenses and that no public funds were used for her trip.
However, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has alleged that Wickremesinghe used government funds for what was essentially a private visit, including covering the expenses of his bodyguards with state money.
Wickremesinghe became president in July 2022 for the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term, after Rajapaksa stepped down following months of protests over alleged corruption and mismanagement.
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Wickremesinghe is credited with stabilising the economy after the country’s worst-ever financial meltdown in 2022. He lost his re-election bid in September.
