Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe released on bail

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been granted bail. A Colombo court granted his bail application on Tuesday (August 27). Earlier, Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested by the country’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday on charges of misappropriation of state funds. The 76-year-old politician was arrested while he was on his way to appear in a magistrate’s court. After Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, Ranil Wickremesinghe was the president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. At that time, the allegation of misappropriation of state funds was raised over a foreign trip. On the other hand, three former Sri Lankan presidents expressed solidarity with Wickremesinghe on Sunday, calling his detention a “planned attack on democracy”. Wickremesinghe’s party, the United National Party (UNP), has claimed that he is being persecuted for fear of a political comeback. Although he lost the presidential election to Dissanayake in September, Wickremesinghe remains active in politics, although he does not hold any elected office. He claims that his wife’s travel expenses to the UK were paid for personally, and that no government funds were used.