Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) today, has been remanded by the Fort Magistrate’s Court.
Wickremesinghe has been remanded until 26th August after being produced before the court today.
Ranil Wickremesinghe became the first former head of state to be arrested in Sri Lanka, after being taken into custody by the CID this morning, after recording a statement in connection with an overseas trip.
He was summoned before the CID with regard to an ongoing probe into an overseas visit to London that investigators say included private events but was financed by state funds.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is accused of having misused state funds during his visit to the United Kingdom in late 2023, during his presidency.
According to a police B-report submitted to a Colombo court, the former president travelled to the United Kingdom to attend his wife’s PhD graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton on September 22 and 23, 2023.
The visit, which had no official government purpose, was tacked onto Wickremesinghe’s state trip to Cuba and the United States, with the president flying from the U.S. to Britain for this private event.
A delegation accompanied him on the London leg, and roughly Rs. 16.9 million in Sri Lankan government funds were spent on the trip. (Newswire)
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s supporters express their displeasure outside court after he was remanded. 🚨 pic.twitter.com/18SjKpEXFz
— NewsWire 🇱🇰 (@NewsWireLK) August 22, 2025
