Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was released on bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, on three sureties of Rs. 5 million each.

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is in remand custody over the misuse of state funds, has been granted bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court. 

The case was taken up before Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura, while the former President did not appear in court due to his health conditions, but was presented via Zoom during the proceedings.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested last Friday and remanded until today over allegations of misusing state funds for a personal overseas tour during his Presidency. 

Following his remand, he was transferred to the Prison Hospital, and later to the Colombo National Hospital, and now remains in the ICU.

Ranil Wickremesinghe became the first former head of state to be arrested in Sri Lanka after being taken into custody by the CID last week. He is accused of having misused state funds during his visit to the United Kingdom in late 2023, during his presidency.

According to a police B-report submitted to a Colombo court, the former president travelled to the United Kingdom to attend his wife’s PhD graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton on September 22 and 23, 2023.

The visit, which had no official government purpose, was tacked onto Wickremesinghe’s state trip to Cuba and the United States, with the president flying from the U.S. to Britain for this private event.

A delegation accompanied him on the London leg, and roughly Rs. 16.9 million in Sri Lankan government funds were spent on the trip.