Staff Correspondent
In a dramatic fall from grace, another top powerful figure has been brought down by allegations of misusing state funds. Sri Lankan police have arrested former President Ranil Wickremesinghe on charges of “reckless expenditure” during official foreign tours while in office.
He was produced before a magistrate’s court in the capital, Colombo, on Friday. The allegations claim that his 23 foreign trips as president wasted nearly 2 million US dollars of state money. This includes a stopover in the UK after the G77 summit in Cuba in 2023 to attend a private event, which is now being termed a personal trip funded by public money.
It is noteworthy that Wickremesinghe had taken office in 2022 amidst a severe economic crisis, following the flight of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Although he garnered some praise for his efforts in economic recovery, the controversial travels of his tenure have now come back to haunt him as a multi-million dollar question.
This 76-year-old veteran politician is a six-time former Prime Minister of the country. But the final consequence of his power has landed him behind bars. Does this picture of treating state money as a means for personal luxury serve as a warning to the powerful worldwide?