Colombo, 26 Aug

A Sri Lankan court on Tuesday granted bail to former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was arrested for alleged misuse of public funds.

Wickremesinghe joined the proceedings virtually from the Intensive Care Unit of the Colombo National Hospital, amid tight security and protests outside the court premises.

The hearing, presided over by Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura, was conducted through Zoom.

The former president was arrested on Friday last week by Sri Lankan police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and taken to the main Magazine Remand prison close to midnight on Friday after the Colombo Fort magistrate's court remanded him till 26 August.

However, he was then admitted to the prison hospital and had to be transferred to the National Hospital ICU as his health deteriorated due to dehydration.

Wickremesinghe, who served as president from 2022 to 2024, has been accused of using state funds to travel to England to attend the convocation ceremony of his wife, Prof Maithree, in September 2023. It has been alleged that he was returning from the US after an official engagement and visited the UK at the state's expense to attend the private engagement of his wife.

He has denied the allegation, insisting that the trip was official as the invitation was extended to the President of Sri Lanka in his capacity as head of state.

Wickremesinghe, who had replaced Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President to serve the balance term until the end of 2024, was credited with steering Sri Lanka out of the economic crisis of 2022. Ranil, a lawyer-turned politician who had been in Parliament for more than five decades, also served six separate terms as prime minister.