Sri Lankan police on Friday arrested former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, making him the most senior opposition figure yet to be detained under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s sweeping anti-corruption drive. The 76-year-old leader, who lost his re-election bid in September, was taken into custody in Colombo after being questioned over allegations that he misused state resources during a private visit to London in September 2023. Police confirmed that Wickremesinghe would be charged before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court.
Investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) accused Wickremesinghe of using government funds for his travel and state resources to cover his security detail while attending a University of Wolverhampton ceremony where his wife, Maithree, was conferred an honorary professorship. The trip, which included a stopover in London following his participation at the G77 summit in Havana, was described by his office at the time as privately funded. Wickremesinghe has consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting that his wife covered her own expenses and that no state money was misused.
His arrest comes amid an aggressive anti-graft campaign launched by President Dissanayake, who assumed office in September on promises to root out systemic corruption. Since then, several prominent figures, including two former senior ministers, have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms, while members of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s powerful family face multiple prosecutions over alleged financial misconduct. Earlier this month, the government also impeached the police chief over links to a political criminal network and jailed the prisons chief on corruption charges.
Wickremesinghe, who became president in July 2022 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned during mass protests over economic mismanagement, was credited with stabilising Sri Lanka’s collapsing economy. He secured a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in early 2023 and implemented harsh austerity measures, including tax hikes and subsidy cuts, to rebuild state revenues. Though these steps helped restore some stability after the country’s worst financial meltdown in 2022, they also fuelled public anger and contributed to his electoral defeat last year.
Despite his party’s diminished presence in parliament, with only two seats in the 225-member legislature, Wickremesinghe remained an influential opposition voice. His arrest has further polarised Sri Lanka’s political landscape, with members of his United National Party (UNP) gathering at the magistrate’s court in support. Analysts say the move signals that President Dissanayake’s government intends to press ahead with its anti-corruption agenda, even if it means confronting some of the nation’s most established political figures.
