Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe remanded

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Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been remanded until August 26 after being arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The order came from Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura today, after Wickremesinghe was taken into custody when he showed up at the CID to give a statement.

According to Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris, the CID plans to present evidence against him under the Public Property Act. He argued that Wickremesinghe should remain in custody since the investigation is still ongoing.

But Wickremesinghe’s lawyer, President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne, pushed for bail, saying there was no reason to keep him behind bars. The magistrate, however, rejected the bail request and ruled that the former President would stay remanded until later this month.

The arrest stems from an investigation into Wickremesinghe’s September 2023 trip to London, where he attended a graduation ceremony for his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, at the University of Wolverhampton. The stopover happened while he was returning from Havana after attending the G77 summit.

The CID alleges that government funds were used to cover what was essentially a private trip — including travel costs and security. Wickremesinghe, however, has insisted that his wife paid her own expenses and that no state money was misused.

The case has been under investigation for some time, with earlier testimony taken from his former private secretary Sandra Perera and ex-Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake.

For now, the former President remains in custody as the CID continues to build its case.

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