Sri Lanka’s former president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was arrested on Friday for allegedly “misusing government funds,” a senior police detective told AFP.
The arrest followed questioning about a trip he made to London in September 2023 while he was still head of state.
The former president was taken into custody after a ceremony for his wife, Maithree, at a British university.
A police officer said they were pressing charges for using state resources for personal purposes and that “We are producing him before the Colombo Fort magistrate.”
The Criminal Investigation Department alleged that Wickremesinghe used government money for his travel and for his bodyguards’ pay.
Wickremesinghe has maintained that his wife paid her own travel expenses and that no state funds were used.
Wickremesinghe, who is credited with “stabilising the economy after the country’s worst-ever financial meltdown in 2022,” became president in July 2022.
He lost his re-election bid in September of the same year.
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