Sri Lanka Arrests Former President, A Friend Of India

Sri Lanka has entered uncharted political territory with the arrest of former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, the first such move against a head of state in the country’s history. Wickremesinghe was detained  on Friday  over allegations of misusing state funds for a personal trip  to London in September 2023,when he was the Executive President. He was there  to attend a University of Wolverhampton convocation of his wife, well known academic Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe.The former president was returning from Havana in September 2023 and stopped over in London.  Investigators claim that he used government  money  for travel and security expenses. Wickremesinghe had denied the charges, saying his wife bore her own expenses for the trip. 

According to reports in the local press the police had earlier presented evidence before the Magistrate’s Court and recorded statements from his former private secretary Sandra Perera and former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake. Wickremesinghe was arrested after presenting a four hour statement to the Court. The local press says that Wickremesinghe arrest was expected and his lawyers had already warned the former President to be prepared for it. Whether he will get bail is not known. But an offence under state property act is non-bailable in Sri Lanka. Crackdown on Corrupt Politicians and officials. 

President Anura Dissayanake's National People’s Power, a left-wing political alliance  swept into power winning both the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections on the promise of cleaning up the system. He pledged to bring political leaders who had long looted the country to book.  

The arrest of the former president on a relatively minor charge is part of  President Dissayanake’s clean up operations. However Wickremesinghe is not commonly thought of as a corrupt leader, unlike the Rajapakse brothers, Mahinda and Gotabya. Was he any easy target? The Rajapakse family have deep roots in politics and despite their current plight are extremely popular among a section of the population.  Mahinda Rajapakse the former strong man still commands loyalty because of the military campaign that eliminated the dreaded  Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and brought decades of civil war to an end. Action against Mahinda or his brother Gotabya who was defence secretary during the campaign, could perhaps bring supporters on to the streets. 

However two of the  Rajapaksa siblings– Namal and Yoshitha are on bail at the moment. Shashindra, a  nephew of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was an agriculture minister is in remand custody.Again two ministers from the Rajapaksa regime are serving a 20 to 25 year jail term. 

Ranil’s political background :

Wickremesinghe, took over as president in July 2022, at a particularly difficult time in the nation’s history.  President  Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was forced to resign hours after a popular uprising against the Rajapaksa family led to mass demonstrations. Protesters stormed the private homes of the Rajapaksa family and ransacked the Presidential Secretariat. After Gotabaya resigned, Wickremasinghe who was then the prime minister stepped in to take his place. But Wickremesinghe, never a popular politician, was not spared. The mobs set fire to his private home and destroyed the family library that had thousands of rare books and artefacts. Later Wickremesinghe said that the destruction of his home was bad but the loss of his books left a gaping hole in his heart. 

Stabilised Sri Lanka’s finances: 

As President, Wickremesinghe steered Sri Lanka out of its worst financial crisis and steadied the economy. But he derived little comfort from that as he lost the elections in September 2024.Wickremesinghe  had served six separate terms as prime minister from the 1990s onwards, and took several shots at the presidency but failed. He became President by a quirk of fate. 

Backroom Boy

Ranil was a moderate politician, and was perhaps more popular abroad than at home. He was a close friend of India right from the beginning of his career as junior minister in his uncle JR Jayawardene’s cabinet. He was more a backroom boy  than a mass leader. He belonged to the Sri Lankan elite and despite a lifetime in politics was never able to connect with the people. A lawyer by profession, Wickremesinghe was more  at home in the world of books and art. He is from an affluent political dynasty. His uncle JR Jayawadene was president for over two decades and brought in monumental changes to the country.

The island nation was among the first South Asian countries to opt for opening up its economy. The idea then was for Sri Lanka to be like Singapore, a thriving economic and financial hub. Ranil took over the leadership of the United National Party in 1994 and is said to have polished the party's image by ridding the UNP of corrupt leaders and members. However, despite his otherwise clean image, the gossip in political circles is that Wickremesinghe should have been prosecuted for a bond scam in 2015. He escaped that and is getting caught for a relatively minor indiscretion.