Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested and remanded by the Fort Magistrate in Colombo on Friday for alleged misuse of public funds for a private purpose. While misuse of public money for a private purpose is a serious crime in Sri Lanka under the Public Property Act, it is doubtful if the case against Wickremesinghe is valid.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) had charged that the former President went to the UK in September 2023 on a “private” visit to attend his wife Maithree Wickremesinghe’s graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton, on his way back from an official visit to Cuba to participate in a G77 meet.
But Wickremesinghe maintained that the travel expenses of his wife to the UK were borne by her and that he had a formal invitation to attend the ceremony from the Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. John Raftery by a letter dated September 1, 2023.
The court, however, refused to consider Wickremesinghe visit to the UK as official.
Later, on Friday itself, Wickremeisinghe’s United National Party (UNP) distributed photocopies of the formal invitation from the university to the Sri Lankan media.
The National Peoples’ Power (NPP) came to office ostensibly to correct an entrenched Sri Lankan system based on corruption and political vendetta. But it appears to be motivated by the same instincts as earlier ruling parties
Commenting on the remand. Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka’s largest circulated English language daily, wondered if the arrest was yet another reflection of Sri Lanka’s vindictive political culture.
When Wickremesinghe became Prime Minister in the government of President Maithripala Sirisena in 2015, he had assured parliament that criminal laws would not be used for political witch-hunts and making allegations without proper evidence.
Exactly a decade after that Wickremesinghe was arrested on the allegation of using public funds to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony in London after an official visit to Cuba. The Fort Magistrate refused to consider the visit to the UK as an official one.
The arrest of Wickremesinghe has been interpreted as the latest instance of a vindictive political system of witch-hunts. Former Foreign Minister and Justice Minister Ali Sabry expressed strong concern over political witch hunts which are common in most Asian countries.
“Such actions reflect a disturbing trend of vindictive and destructive politics which undermines our institutions and our future. This cycle of hatred and retribution must end. Sri Lanka deserves a politics of reason, stability and gratitude to those who have time and again safeguarded the nation,” Ali Sabry told the media.
Wickremesinghe took over the Presidency of Sri Lanka after a mass movement called “Aragalaya” forced the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee to the Maldives and then to Singapore in 2022.
Wickremesinghe took over as President, albeit only with a parliamentary vote, and rescued Sri Lanka from the depths of economic despair with his international contacts and diplomatic skills.
When his counsels stated his contributions to Sri Lanka in court, the Magistrate dismissed them as being irrelevant to the case at hand.
Former Minister Ali Sabry also said that the conduct of a controversial You Tuber who predicted the arrest of Wickremesinghe was reprehensible. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP and lawyer Ms. Lihini Fernando also strongly condemned the conduct of the social media influencer. It undermined the rule of law by passing a judgment even before the case was heard in a court of law.
Commenting on the You Tuber’s hasty comment, Ms. Fernando has stated that “such remarks not only demonstrate a blatant disregard for the principles of justice but also seek to mislead the public into believing that judicial decisions can be dictated by personal whims or political conspiracies,”.
However, the National Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told parliament that the action taken by the law enforcement authority against Wickremesinghe was in accordance with keeping the promises the government had given to the people.
“Our government pledged to bring all wrongdoers before justice, regardless of the positions they held,” Wijepala said.
He also said that justice will be rendered in cases of killing and persecution of journalists in Sri Lanka.
The NPP government started investigations into corruption charges against over 20 former Members of Parliament, including several ex-Ministers over allegations of financial misconduct, bribery, and abuse of State resources.
Recently, former ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Nalin Fernando, were found guilty of misappropriating Rs. 53 million in public funds. So far, former ministers Keheliya Rambukwella, Prasanna Ranaweera, and Mervyn Silva have been remanded in connection with past offenses, signalling what could become Sri Lanka’s most comprehensive corruption clean-up in decades.
While many of these actions may have justification, the case against Wickremesinghe appears to be both trivial and unjustifiable. Political observers say that such over-reaches could eventually prove to be politically damaging to the NPP.
Daily Mirror said that Sri Lanka, being one of the oldest democracies in Asia, its lawmakers have a duty to ensure that the highest principles of democracy are in existence in the country which had acquired a thick black mark on human rights violations.
Having come to power with a huge majority vote and occupying 159 out of the 225 seats in parliament, the National People’s Power led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (which was once a victim of political violence) has a responsibility to correct the past and lay a new democratic path, thus ensuring stability of law and order and an independent judiciary which are key to a new political culture, Daily Mirror said.
It is essential to prove that Wickremesinghe’s arrest is not a case of a vindictive political culture or a witch-hunt, the paper added.
After being remanded, Wickremesinghe was admitted to the Colombo prison hospital as he is a patient of diabetes and high blood pressure. Wife Maithree Wickremesinghe is a cancer patient and Mr. Wickremesinghe is her only caregiver.