Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is currently under remand custody, will most likely not be presented before the courts today due to his health conditions, Prisons Spokesman Jagath Weerasinghe said.
Speaking to local media, Jagath Weerasinghe said this was so as doctors have recommended Ranil Wickremesinghe to remain in the hospital and continue his treatment.
He further said that if ordered by the Magistrate to present Ranil Wickremesinghe online via Zoom, then the necessary measures will be taken in this regard.
“The doctors have recommended that he continue his treatment at the ICU as he requires remaining under observation. As such, most likely, we won’t be able to physically present him in the courts. If the magistrate orders him to be presented online via Zoom, we will make the necessary arrangements. We have no issues in making arrangements to do so from his hospital bed,” the Prisons Spokesman said.
Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last Friday and remanded until today over allegations of misusing state funds for a personal overseas tour during his Presidency.
Following his remand, he was transferred to the Prison Hospital, and later to the Colombo National Hospital, and now remains in the ICU.
Ranil Wickremesinghe became the first former head of state to be arrested in Sri Lanka after being taken into custody by the CID last week. He 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)
