Why was former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested?

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested on charges of misusing state funds.

Al Jazeera quoted police information on August 22 saying that former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76 years old, was arrested and appeared in court on charges of misusing state funds while in office.

"Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested and appeared in court. We are awaiting court instructions to decide what the next steps should be," a police spokesman said.

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Photo: Daily Mirror.

It is known that in 2023, Mr. Wickremesinghe stopped in London (UK) on his way back to Sri Lanka after attending the G77 summit in Havana. He and his wife, Ms. Maithree, attended the ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton (UK), where Ms. Maithree was conferred the title of honorary professor.

Mr Wickremesinghe insisted that his wife's travel expenses were all paid for by her and that no state funds were used.

However, Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said he used state funds to cover the costs of his trip to the UK and to pay for his bodyguards. It is understood that three former senior advisers to the former Sri Lankan president were questioned by the CID this month.

Meanwhile, an ally of Mr Wickremesinghe from the United National Party (UNP) has declared him innocent and said the case was politically motivated.

“Ranil Wickremesinghe has never misused public money. He is the one who stood up and took the challenge to save this country when the economy collapsed. And now he is being treated like this,” UNP member Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe told reporters outside the court in Colombo on August 22.

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