Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka's Ex-President, Arrested Over Alleged Misuse Of Fund

Wickremesinghe allegedly used state funds to attend a convocation ceremony of his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesingh in Britain.

Ranil Wickremesinghe (L) attends a an election rally ahead of elections
Ranil Wickremesinghe Photo: Getty Images
info_icon
Summary
Summary of this article

1: Sri Lanka's ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe and six time Prime Minister was arrested on Friday after arriving at the CID office in the capital Colombo.

2: He had allegedly used state funds to visit his wife's graduation ceremony in London.

Sri Lanka's former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on Friday for allegedly "misusing government funds", AFP reported.

The source said that Wickremesinghe, 76, was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department for questioning about a September 2023 visit to London where he attended a convocation ceremony of his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesingh, at University of Wolverhampton while he was in office.

He was on his way back from Havana, where he attended a G77 summit.

"We are producing him before the Colombo Fort magistrate," the officer told AFP, adding that the charges were of using state funds for personal purposes.

Wickremesinghe, credited for stabilising the economy after the 2022 financial crisis in Sri Lanka, became President in July 2022. He had taken over Gotabaya Rajapaksa's remaining term, who had to step down from office after agitation over alleged corruption and mismanagement.

Wickremesinghe lost his re-election bid in September.

Published At:
SUBSCRIBE
Tags

Click/Scan to Subscribe

qr-code

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

×