According to authorities, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the former president of Sri Lanka, has been taken into custody in relation to the purported financial mismanagement.
The accusation concerns his foreign travels during his presidency.
After making a statement to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) earlier in the day, he is scheduled to appear in a judge’s court in the capital city of Colombo on Friday.
Wickremesinghe was president from 2022 to 2024, when his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled the country due to a popular revolt sparked by the worst economic crisis in its history.
He was widely acknowledged for having contributed to the island nation’s economic resurgence.
In addition, Wickremesinghe was the prime minister six times starting in the 1990s.
The 76-year-old traveled abroad 23 times while serving as president, spending over Rs 600 million ($2 million; £1.4 million), according to BBC Sinhala.
According to news agency AFP, Wickremesinghe was arrested on Friday in connection with a 2023 stopover in the UK while returning from a G77 summit in Cuba.
This time, he and his spouse went to a ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton.
Wickremesinghe has refuted claims made by Sri Lanka’s CID that this was a private visit funded by the state.
This is a developing story. Please check back for further updates.
