COLUMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — Sri Lankan police on Friday arrested the country’s former president and senior opposition politician Ranil Wicklemesinghe over allegations of misusing public funds while he was in office as president, police said.
Wiklemesinge, who served as the island nation’s president from 2022 to 2024, was arrested after an official visit to the US on allegations of using public funds to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony in London, police spokesman Fedric Utler told The Associated Press.
Wiklemesinge aide Danushka Ramanayake said the former president was taken to court after being arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit.
Wickremesinghe is the first Sri Lanka former head of state to be arrested and the most well-known leader in investigation for corruption under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who last year promised to punish those accused of corruption under the previous government.
Dissanayake won the presidential election last September. In the election, voters rejected old security guards who were accused of leading the country into an economic crisis. Two months later, his party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, which allowed him to form a powerful government.
Already, more than 12 political leaders, from the former government and former high-ranking officials, have been arrested, and are under investigation on suspicion of corruption and medical malpractice.
Wickremesinghe became president after the resignation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 after Sri Lanka’s economic upheaval brought about a political crisis.
Wickremesinghe is believed to have seen an inflation decrease in the crumbling economy, strengthening local currency, and increasing foreign reserves under him. However, he was severely criticized for implementing severe austerity measures, including the tax and utility bill, which came as part of a relief package with the International Monetary Fund, which the government concluded.
