Insight By Sunil Kumar

The arrest of Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe which was carried out yesterday by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after arriving to record a statement over allegations of misusing state funds despite being unprecedented in the history of Sri Lanka seems to have many circumspect areas which appear not only to be questionable but appears also to points towards an act of revenge and unethical on the part of the NPP Government where many grey areas appear to have surfaced towards its legitimacy albeit its sudden enactment and a degree of ruthlessness on the part of those who initiated the arrest namely the present Administration especially considering the prima facie evidence presented towards its justification where a far deeper and in depth investigation would have been more appropriate given his status as a former Head of State.

This has been attested to by many who have opposed the arrest including international sources and those within the country who have voiced their vehement opposition where perhaps more consideration should have been given as the fallout from such an action could easiily compromise as well as jeopardize the future of the presidency as we know it and does not favour the well being of the country towards future stability as many intellectual minds have observed and perhaps even a slur on a Nation which has struggled through many crises where Mr Wickremasinghe has stood firm towards their resolution in patriotic dedication as some have put it and hardly fair by him that such a sudden enactment of stringent authority has been imposed towards his incarceration when greater consideration should have been given to the role he paid in restoring Sri Lanka to a degree of normalcy where the conclusion that he misappropriated State Funds seems more speculatively erroneous as one delves into their realities relative to those who handled his official expenses.

The arguments towards its validity appear to have not been proven beyond reasonable doubt and a benefit of the doubt perhaps something the former President was entitled to given his denial and the facts presented by his legal  representation which probably deserved greater attention and scrutiny rather than being shrugged off ignominiously as the case appears to have been.

The probe concerns his September 2023 visit to London to attend a University of Wolverhampton graduation ceremony for his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, during which investigators claim government money was used for travel and security expenses.

Former President Wickremesinghe has denied the charges, insisting that his wife bore her own costs and no public funds were misused.

There is evidence also that the University conferring the honor on Mrs Wickremasinghe had officially invited them and the expenses which Mr Wickremasinghe is said to have misappropriated could well have been attributable to part of an official visit outside the country in his capacity as President. The CID had earlier presented evidence to the Fort Magistrate’s Court and recorded statements from his former private secretary Sandra Perera and former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake.

He was taken into custody last morning after stating his case in defence attested to by his legal representation and is expected to be produced before the Fort Magistrate’s Court later on.Subsequently he has been remanded without bail until the 23rd of August it has ben learned.

Wickremesinghe, who assumed the presidency in July 2022 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation and lost re-election in September 2024, is now the first former President in Sri Lanka’s history to be arrested.

There are shades of anti Wickremasinghe sentiment and pursuit by his political opponents relative to the infamous Batalanda massacres

which took place during his tenure where despite an in depth investigation he was found to have no liabilities regardless of his political status and no charges were proven against him.

All things considerd including his present weakened health and the response of the majority of those loyal to him who have expressed their justifiable concerns in the matter of his arrest perhaps a reversal of the conditions he is being subjected to from a government perspective which appears unfair and unjustified may be in order provided a through investigation towards  his accusations is re-initiated towards the maintenance of Democracy within the Nation.

It  also seems unfair that he has been denied bail which further attests to the determination of the Government to incarcerate him unconditionally and needs consideration which now seems to be on compassionate grounds for a former Head of State whose health conditions could easily deteriorate and worsen.