Fmr Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe arrested over alleged misuse of State Funds

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was detained on Friday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on charges of misusing state funds, according to local media.

Wickremesinghe, 76, was arrested after appearing at the CID office in Colombo to record a statement in connection with a probe investigating his trip to London to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony, according to the report.

Wickremesinghe had visited London in 2023 while returning from a G77 summit in Havana.

He and his wife were in London for a University of Wolverhampton event.

Wickremesinghe had maintained that his wife’s travel expenses were met by her and that no state funds were used.

However, the CID has alleged that Wickremesinghe used government money for his travel on a private visit and that his bodyguards were also paid by the state.

The police had previously questioned his staff about the travel expenses.

Wickremesinghe, who is the leader of the United National Party (UNP), took over after widespread protests caused by a economic meltdown forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee Sri Lanka and later resign.

Born into a prominent family of politicians and businessmen with large interests in the media, a 29-year-old Wickremesinghe was made the country’s youngest cabinet minister by his uncle, President Junius Jayewardene, in 1978.

In 1994, following assassinations that wiped out several of his senior colleagues, Wickremesinghe became leader of the UNP.