-By LeN Senior Political correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -22.Aug.2025, 10.30 PM)
For a man who once styled himself as the steadying hand of Sri Lankan democracy, the sight of Ranil Wickremesinghe being escorted into the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today morning was nothing short of extraordinary. Dressed in his customary white tunic but visibly weary, the former president was presented before a magistrate who, without hesitation, ordered his remand until 26 August.
The charge: alleged abuse of public funds during an overseas visit undertaken while in office, a trip that controversially included attendance at his wife’s honorary degree ceremony. What should have been a private family celebration, prosecutors argue, was transformed into a state-sponsored spectacle at taxpayer expense.
For a country long accustomed to presidents who rule with impunity, the image of Wickremesinghe behind the bars of remand custody has landed like a thunderclap.
The drama began earlier in the day when Wickremesinghe arrived at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to provide a statement on the foreign tour in question. It was meant to be a routine appearance, one of many that the former leader has faced since leaving office. But after several hours of questioning, CID officials made the arrest.
By afternoon, he was led into court. Reporters jostled for position as the former president, who once hosted world leaders at Temple Trees, now stood in the dock before a magistrate. The order to remand him until late August was delivered after 4 hours of court proceedings.
At the heart of the case is a question that has dogged Sri Lanka’s politics for decades: where does official duty end, and private indulgence begin?
Wickremesinghe, whose long career has been marked by repeated comebacks and equally frequent collapses, is accused of following a path well-trodden by his predecessors. From Mahinda Rajapaksa’s lavish foreign junkets to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s taxpayer-funded security entourages, Sri Lankan leaders have routinely blurred the line between state necessity and personal luxury.
But what makes Wickremesinghe’s case remarkable is that he no longer enjoys the cloak of presidential immunity. Unlike during his tenure, where constitutional protections shielded him from prosecution, he is now an ordinary citizen before the law.
The foreign trip under scrutiny would not have raised eyebrows had it been strictly confined to official engagements. But reports allege that the former president used state funds to fly abroad and attend his wife’s honorary degree award ceremony.
To his critics, it was the perfect symbol of the arrogance and detachment that defined Wickremesinghe’s presidency: a leader who saw no distinction between his household and the state treasury. To his defenders, it was an unfairly magnified episode, part of a broader diplomatic itinerary that happened to coincide with a family event.
“The truth will come out in court,” said one of Wickremesinghe’s aides, speaking to The Lankaenews outside the courthouse. “This was an official visit with state meetings and international engagements. The attempt to reduce it to a family trip is politically motivated.”
The ruling has set Colombo’s political class buzzing. For the National People’s Power (NPP) government, which swept to power promising to root out corruption, the case is a test of its resolve.
“If even a president can be held accountable, then nobody is above the law,” declared Justice Minister , whose stern tone belied the irony that he himself has faced accusations of legal manipulation in the past.
Opposition figures, meanwhile, see the remand as both vindication and opportunity. “This is what we warned the people about,” said Sajith Premadasa, the opposition leader. “Wickremesinghe treated the presidency like his personal fiefdom. Finally, justice is catching up.”
Inside court, the atmosphere was heavy with symbolism. The magistrate, accustomed to seeing petty thieves and drug suspects, now faced a former head of state. The CID laid out the bare bones of its case: misuse of public funds, violation of fiduciary duty, and deception of the state treasury.
The defence team pushed back, arguing that the trip was approved through proper channels. They insisted Wickremesinghe had “acted within the bounds of presidential discretion.”
But the magistrate was unmoved, ruling that the former president be held in remand until 26 August while further evidence is gathered.
Sri Lankans have grown weary of scandals that flare briefly and vanish into oblivion. From the Central Bank bond scam to the infamous Batalanda Torture Chamber case, public anger has often been followed by judicial inertia.
The Wickremesinghe case, however, feels different. The sight of a former president behind bars, even temporarily, is rare enough to command attention. For many, it is a test of whether Sri Lanka is finally prepared to end its culture of impunity.
Legal scholars point out that this case could establish an important precedent. Article 35 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution grants presidents immunity from prosecution while in office. But once they leave, the shield drops.
“The critical question is whether actions taken under the guise of official duty can be re-examined retrospectively,” said Dr. Nishan a constitutional analyst. “If the court rules firmly that misuse of public funds for private purposes is prosecutable, then every former head of state may need to worry.”
Diplomatic circles are watching closely. Wickremesinghe was long regarded in the West as a stable, technocratic leader — a safe pair of hands during Sri Lanka’s turbulent years of economic collapse and protest. His arrest, though, raises uncomfortable questions about how international partners, particularly the IMF and the EU, judged him during his presidency.
A senior European diplomat told Lankaenews on condition of anonymity: “It is awkward, of course. Many of us invested in Wickremesinghe’s government as a partner for reforms. Now we see he may have been just as cavalier with public money as the men he replaced.”
For Sri Lankans, the symbolism of Wickremesinghe’s remand is not merely about one trip or one degree ceremony. It speaks to a larger reckoning: that the presidency itself, long treated as untouchable, may finally be subject to accountability.
The timing is also significant. The NPP government is under pressure to deliver on its sweeping promises of transparency and anti-corruption. Allowing a former president to slip away unscathed would have been politically disastrous.
As Ranil Wickremesinghe sits in remand awaiting his next court date, Sri Lanka is left grappling with a profound question: is this a turning point, or just another political spectacle?
If the case proceeds with vigour, it could mark the beginning of an era where presidents — past, present, and future — must think twice before dipping into the public purse for private indulgences. If it collapses, it will be remembered as just another chapter in the long book of Sri Lanka’s unpunished scandals.
For now, one image lingers in the national consciousness: a former president, once untouchable, reduced to waiting behind bars, his fate in the hands of a magistrate.
-By LeN Senior Political correspondent
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by (2025-08-22 22:33:08)
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