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Reuters

Agence France-Presse

Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday in connection with allegations of misuse of state funds, local television channel Ada Derana reported.
Wickremesinghe, 76, was taken into custody after arriving at the CID office in the capital, Colombo, to record a statement in an investigation into his visit to London to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony, the report said.
Wickremesinghe claims that his wife’s travel expenses were paid by her and that no state funds were used.
However, the CID alleges that Wickremesinghe used government money for his travel on a private visit and that his bodyguards were also paid by the state.
A Sri Lankan police spokesperson did not immediately confirm the arrest. Wickremesinghe’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
He was due to appear in court later on Friday, local media reported.
Wickremesinghe is the first Sri Lankan former head of state to be arrested.
A lawyer who served as Sri Lanka’s prime minister a record six times, Wickremesinghe was made president in 2022 during the Indian Ocean island nation’s debilitating financial crisis.

Wickremesinghe, who is the leader of the United National Party (UNP), took over after widespread protests caused by an economic meltdown that forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign.
He finished third in last year’s presidential election – the first since the economic crisis – behind Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who won the vote, and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
The election was a referendum on Wickremesinghe, who led a successful but fragile economic recovery that included austerity measures that angered voters.
Born into a prominent family of politicians and businessmen with large media interests, in 1978 Wickremesinghe was, at 29, made the country’s youngest cabinet minister by his uncle, President Junius Jayewardene.
In 1994, following assassinations that wiped out several of his senior colleagues, Wickremesinghe became leader of the UNP.


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Sri Lankan ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested over misuse of state funds

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Asia

South Asia

The arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe marks the first time a former Sri Lankan head of state has been detained


The arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe marks the first time a former Sri Lankan head of state has been detained.


Crime

Britain

Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Sri Lankan ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe arrested over misuse of state funds

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe marks the first time a former Sri Lankan head of state has been detained

The arrest of Ranil Wickremesinghe marks the first time a former Sri Lankan head of state has been detained