Sri Lanka’s former president and six-time prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was arrested on August 22 for allegedly misusing state resources while in office. He is accused of using public funds to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony in London after an official visit to the US in 2023. Wickremesinghe has since been granted bail on a 5m rupee (£12,300) bond.
His arrest represents one of the most consequential moments in the Sri Lanka’s postcolonial history. It marks the first time a former head of state has ever been detained in Sri Lanka, shattering the longstanding assumption that those at the top of the country’s politics remain forever beyond the reach of the law.
The assumption of elite impunity was built on decades of precedent. This reached its apex under the Rajapaksa family, who dominated Sri Lankan politics between 2005 and 2022, as corruption was woven into the very fabric of governance.
