Sri Lanka ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s former president, was arrested on Friday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over allegations of misusing government funds during a private overseas trip while in office. He was taken into custody after arriving at the CID headquarters in Colombo to record a statement in the case, and is expected to be presented before the Colombo Fort Magistrate Court.

Wickremesinghe, 76, is accused of using state resources to attend a University of Wolverhampton ceremony in the United Kingdom in September 2023, where his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, was being felicitated. The trip occurred during a stopover in London as he returned from the G77 summit in Havana, Cuba.

A CID official told AFP that charges were being pressed against him for using public funds for what is being treated as a private visit. The police had also previously questioned his staff about expenses related to the trip.