By P.K.Balachandran
Colombo, August 22 – Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested and produced before the Fort Magistrate in Colombo on Friday for alleged misuse of public funds for a private purpose.
Misuse of public money for a private purpose is a serious crime in Sri Lanka under the Public Property Act.
Ironically, Sri Lanka’s long-standing law on bribery and corruption was made more stringent in 2023 when Wickremesinghe was President.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) had previously grilled Wickremesinghe’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and former private secretary Sandra Perera. Investigation had been going on since June this year.
The CID had summoned Wickremesinghe to its headquarters to record his statement. Lawyers had warned him that arrest was a distinct possibility.
The Charge
The CID had charged that the former President was in the UK from September 22 to 23 to attend his wife Maithree Wickremesinghe’s graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton, on his way back from Havana, where he had participated in a G77 meet.
Wickremesinghe maintained that the travel expenses of his wife were borne by her and that he had a formal invitation to attend the ceremony from the Chancellor of the University Lord Swaraj Paul.
Later, Wickremeisinghe’s party, United National Party, (UNP) distributed photocopies of the formal invitation from the university. But prior to that, the Magistrate had remanded the ex-President.
Stop Gap President
Wickremesinghe served as an unelected, stop-gap, President from 2022 to 2024 after the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, quit in ignominy after a mass revolt against his administration.
Wickremesinghe served as President till the end of Rajapaksa’s term. He contested the subsequent Presidential election but only to lose to Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) a new anti-corruption coalition.
Wickremesinghe is credited with stabilising the economy of Sri Lanka after it suffered its worst-ever financial crisis in 2022. But Sri Lankans were keen on throwing the old order, lock, stock and barrel. Wickremesinghe was a member of the old order having been Prime Minister twice and President once.
Anti-Corruption Drive
Following Wickremesinghe’s arrest National Security Ananda Wijepala said – “Our government pledged to bring all wrongdoers before justice, regardless of the positions they held. We have kept that promise. Investigations into all serious incidents, such as the Easter Sunday attacks, are progressing. The probe into the killing of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda is ongoing, while the investigation into the assault on journalist Keith Noyahr has been completed.”
The NPP government started investigations into corruption charges against over 20 former Members of Parliament, including several ex-Ministers over allegations of financial misconduct, bribery, and abuse of State resources.
Recently, former ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Nalin Fernando, were found guilty of misappropriating Rs. 53 million in public funds. So far, former ministers Keheliya Rambukwella, Prasanna Ranaweera, and Mervyn Silva have been remanded in connection with past offenses, signalling what could become Sri Lanka’s most comprehensive corruption clean-up in decades.
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