Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested, accused of misusing government money for…

Wickremesinghe has held the post of Prime Minister six times in different tenures since the 1990s.

New Delhi: Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested by the police for allegedly misusing government funds and travelling to London to attend the convocation of his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, while he was President in 2023.

What is Ranil Wickremesinghe accused of?

The police say that he had no official visit to London, yet it was done at government expense. A group of 10 people was involved in this trip, and about Rs 1.69 crore was spent.

At that time, Wickremesinghe was on an official visit to Cuba and America, after which he went to Britain for a private visit. Apart from this, he is also accused of paying a salary to his personal bodyguard from the government treasury.

Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived at the office of the Financial Crimes Investigation Department on Friday morning, 22 August, to record his statement for an investigation related to his visit to London.

Ranil Wickremesinghe is the first former president to be arrested

News agency AFP quoted a police officer as saying that Wickremesinghe arrived at the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) this morning for questioning related to this case. He was arrested after 4 hours of interrogation here.

He has become the first former president to be arrested in Sri Lankan history. He was produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate.

‘Wife bore the expenses of her own trip’: Wickremesinghe

Wickremesinghe has denied the allegations and said that his wife bore her own expenses and no government money was misused. His office has described these reports as false and misleading.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had earlier presented evidence against Wickremesinghe in the Fort Magistrate Court. This includes statements of his former private secretary Sandra Perera, and former Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake.

Wickremesinghe has held the post of Prime Minister six times

Wickremesinghe has held the post of Prime Minister six times in different tenures since the 1990s. During this time, he made 23 foreign trips, for which 2 million dollars (Rs 17.5 crores) have been spent from the government treasury.

Wickremesinghe visited Cuba in 2023. While returning from here, he stopped in London, where he attended the G-77 summit. During this time, he and his wife, Maithri, attended a ceremony at Wolverhampton University.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Ranil Wickremesinghe has been accused of travelling to London to attend the convocation of his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, while he was President in 2023.
• The police say that he had no official visit to London, yet it was done at government expense.
• Wickremesinghe is also accused of paying a salary to his personal bodyguard from the government treasury.
• Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived at the office of the Financial Crimes Investigation Department on Friday morning, 22 August.

Wickremesinghe arrived at the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) on Friday, 22 August morning, for questioning related to this case. He was arrested after 4 hours of interrogation here.