-By a Special Correspondent, Colombo
(Lanka-e-News -22.Aug.2025, 10.40 PM) For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, a former president has been taken into police custody. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the country’s eighth executive president, was today ordered by Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupluli Lankapura to be remanded until 26 August, after investigators alleged he misused public funds to undertake a private foreign trip.
The arrest was carried out by the Financial Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which summoned Wickremesinghe yesterday morning to give a statement over expenses incurred during a 2023 overseas visit. What began as official travel to Cuba and the United States reportedly extended into a detour to London, where he attended the honorary degree ceremony of his wife, Maithree.
According to investigators, ten others joined the London leg of the journey, which cost over Rs. 16.6 million (£42,000) in public funds. Officials maintain that this portion of the trip was private in nature and later reclassified — after his return — as an “official visit”.
Before Wickremesinghe himself appeared at CID headquarters, statements had already been recorded from his former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake and long-time private secretary Sandra Perera. Both admitted under questioning that the London trip was initially regarded as a personal excursion before documentation was altered.
When Wickremesinghe eventually appeared, CID officers informed him that he was under arrest — the first such moment in Sri Lanka’s political history where police have physically taken a former president into custody, rather than collecting testimony in the privacy of his residence.
In court, the Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris outlined the three principal accusations under the Public Property Act:
Misuse of state funds during the September 2023 London visit.
Deployment of government resources for a private purpose — namely, his wife’s graduation ceremony.
State-financed travel and security expenses for a ten-member entourage on what was essentially a personal trip.
Peiris told the court that evidence had been gathered from 33 witnesses and stressed that the expenditure occurred during a time of national financial collapse, when ordinary Sri Lankans were queueing for fuel and medicine.
Peiris added that Wickremesinghe himself had dismissed the distinction between state and personal travel, reportedly telling investigators: “There is no separation between official and private; any journey can use public funds.”
Documents shown in court revealed that while the London trip was at first categorised internally as a personal detour, it was later amended to “official” once the delegation had returned home. Peiris questioned who had authorised these revisions.
Evidence also showed that the former president and his entourage stayed in a luxury suite at the Landmark Hotel in London, despite the honorary degree ceremony taking place in Wolverhampton, some 200km away. Costs included Rs. 4.5 million on vehicle hire, Rs. 3 million on food and drink, Rs. 3.4 million on accommodation, and Rs. 2.7 million on incidentals.
Wickremesinghe’s lawyer Anuja Premaratne petitioned for bail, citing the former president’s age (76), high blood pressure, diabetes, and the ill health of his wife. The defence also argued that no Auditor General’s report had yet been produced to substantiate the CID’s allegations.
But Peiris countered that the CID had relied on an internal audit specific to the President’s Office, rather than a general annual audit, and emphasised that the investigation was ongoing. He told the magistrate further arrests may follow, hinting at possible action against Saman Ekanayake, the former presidential secretary who approved travel funds.
The magistrate rejected the bail application, ruling that Wickremesinghe should remain in remand until 26 August.
The proceedings were not without drama. Midway through the hearing, power to the courthouse was cut, delaying sessions by over an hour until engineers from the Ceylon Electricity Board restored supply. Outside the courtroom, dozens of politicians — including Dinesh Gunawardena, Maithripala Sirisena, Ruwan Wijewardene, Namal Rajapaksa and Prasanna Ranatunga — appeared on the premises, sparking murmurs that the old political order was rallying in solidarity.
Legal analysts say the case could be only the beginning. Commentators in Colombo noted that while the present matter concerns a two-day London trip, more explosive allegations may yet follow, particularly relating to Wickremesinghe’s role during the country’s 2022 economic collapse and the shadow of the notorious “Batalanda” episode that has long haunted his career.
“This case is just the trailer,” one political observer remarked. “The full film — with all its darker scenes — is still to come.”
The arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe marks a watershed in Sri Lankan politics: never before has a former head of state been detained by police and presented in open court as a suspect. Whether it proves a true break from a culture of impunity, or simply another episode in the theatre of Sri Lanka’s crisis-ridden politics, will depend on what unfolds when the magistrate resumes hearings at the end of the month.
For now, the once untouchable president sits in remand, awaiting a fate that could redefine not only his legacy but the very boundaries of presidential privilege.
-By a Special Correspondent, Colombo
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by (2025-08-22 17:35:28)
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