Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe Arrested Amid Misuse of Funds Allegations

Colombo (The Uttam Hindu): Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday. He had gone to the CID office in Colombo to record his statement on the allegations of misuse of government funds, where he was arrested.

According to Sri Lankan media reports, the investigation relates to his visit to London in September 2023, where he attended the convocation of his wife, Professor Maithri Wickramasinghe at the University of Wolverhampton. Investigators claim that government funds were used for this trip and security expenses. Former President Wickramasinghe has denied these allegations and said that his wife bore her own expenses and no public money was misused. The CID had earlier submitted evidence in the Fort Magistrate Court and recorded the statements of his former private secretary Sandra Perera and former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake.

He was taken into custody after recording his statement for more than four hours on Friday morning and is expected to be produced in the Fort Magistrate Court soon. On Tuesday, he received a call from CID officials to appear before them. He then informed his lawyers that he would appear this week. His lawyers told the CID that he would appear on Friday. Wickremesinghe's lawyers advised him to be ready for arrest.

Security measures have been tightened around the Fort Magistrate Court ahead of the appearance of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe took over as President of Sri Lanka after the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July 2022, and lost the election in September 2024. He is the first former president to be arrested in Sri Lanka's history.