Sri Lanka arrests former president Wickremesinghe, local media reports

He faces charges of misusing state funds

Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday in connection with allegations of misuse of state funds, local television channel Ada Derana reported.

Wickremesinghe, 76, was arrested after arriving at the CID office in the capital Colombo to record a statement in an investigation into his visit to London to attend his wife's graduation ceremony, the report said.

A Sri Lanka Police spokesperson did not immediately confirm the arrest. Wickremesinghe's office did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

A lawyer who served as Sri Lanka's prime minister a record six times, Wickremesinghe was made president in 2022 during the island nation's debilitating financial crisis.

Wickremesinghe, who is the leader of the United National Party (UNP), took over after widespread protests caused by a economic meltdown forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee Sri Lanka and later resign.

Born into a prominent family of politicians and businessmen with large interests in the media, a 29-year-old Wickremesinghe was made the country's youngest cabinet minister by his uncle, then president Junius Jayewardene, in 1978.

In 1994, following assassinations that wiped out several of his senior colleagues, Wickremesinghe became leader of the UNP.