Sri Lanka’s former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on Friday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over allegations of misusing public money for a private overseas trip during his tenure.
According to police officials, Wickremesinghe, 76, is accused of using government funds to travel to England in September 2023 to attend his wife Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe’s convocation ceremony at a British university. “We are producing him before the Colombo Fort magistrate,” an officer told AFP, adding that charges were being pursued for using state resources for personal purposes.
The former leader had stopped in London on his return from Havana, where he participated in the G77 summit.
In the UK, he and his wife attended a University of Wolverhampton ceremony. While Wickremesinghe has insisted that his wife covered her own expenses and no state money was involved, the CID maintains that government funds were used for his travel and that the costs of his security detail were also borne by the state.
Earlier, investigators questioned members of his staff regarding the expenses linked to the trip.
Wickremesinghe, who assumed office in July 2022 following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation amid mass protests over corruption and economic mismanagement, is credited with steering the country through its worst financial crisis. However, he lost his bid for re-election in September.