Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe (76) was arrested on 22 August 2025
He was arrested by the CID over allegations of misusing state funds
He became the first ex-president of Sri Lanka to be arrested.
Sri Lanka’s former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested on 22 August 2025 for allegedly misusing government funds, police confirmed.
The 76-year-old was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and questioned over a September 2023 visit to London, where he attended his wife Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe’s convocation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton.
According to police, Wickremesinghe stopped in London on his return from the G77 summit in Havana, Cuba. The CID alleged that the stopover was a private trip funded with state money, covering travel and security expenses.
He was later produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, making him the first former president of Sri Lanka ever to be arrested.
Wickremesinghe has denied the allegations, insisting that his wife’s expenses were personally covered and that no public funds were misused.
The probe into his foreign travels was first referred to court in June 2024. As per BBC Sinhala, Wickremesinghe made 23 overseas trips during his presidency, costing the state over Rs 600 million ($2m; £1.4m).
Wickremesinghe served as president from 2022 to 2024 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned amid mass protests over corruption and economic collapse. He was credited with stabilising Sri Lanka’s economy during its worst financial crisis but lost his re-election bid in September 2024.
A veteran politician, Wickremesinghe has been active since 1977, serving six terms as prime minister. He became leader of the United National Party (UNP) in 1994 and introduced reforms to restore its credibility.
He assumed the presidency in July 2022, completing Rajapaksa’s remaining term at a time when his party had nearly collapsed, with him as its sole representative in parliament.
A lawyer by profession, Wickremesinghe comes from a prominent family of politicians and businessmen. His arrest marks a dramatic turn in the career of a leader once praised for pulling Sri Lanka back from the brink of economic collapse. [Rh/Eth/VP]
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