Sri Lanka’s Ex-President Wickremesinghe Rushed To ICU From Jail

Sri Lanka’s former president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was rushed from prison to intensive care at Colombo National Hospital on Saturday, less than 24 hours after being remanded on corruption charges.

Hospital officials said the 76-year-old was admitted with acute dehydration and placed under close monitoring due to his existing health conditions.

“He has to be closely observed and treated for acute dehydration to prevent serious complications,” said Rukshan Bellana, deputy director-general of Colombo National Hospital.

“He was a severe diabetic with high blood pressure when he was brought in,” Bellana added, though he stressed Wickremesinghe’s condition was now “stable.”

According to prison authorities, Wickremesinghe’s transfer became necessary after his condition deteriorated and the prison medical unit was deemed inadequate for his treatment.

The former leader, who lost the September presidential election to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, was arrested on Friday night and accused of misusing government funds during an overseas trip in 2023.

He is alleged to have diverted 16.6 million rupees ($55,000) of public fund to cover expenses during a private visit to the United Kingdom, following his attendance at the G77 summit in Havana and the UN General Assembly in New York.

Wickremesinghe, however, insisted that no public funds were used. The trip, according to him, was to accompany his wife, Maithree, when she was awarded an honorary professorship by the University of Wolverhampton. He maintained her expenses were “met personally.”

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to three times the misappropriated sum.

Wickremesinghe’s arrest sparked outrage among opposition ranks, who accused President Dissanayake’s leftist government of orchestrating a witch-hunt.

Opposition lawmaker Nalin Bandara of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party said the former president remained in good spirits when they visited him at Colombo’s New Magazine Prison earlier Saturday.

“What the former president says is that we should get onto a common stage to fight the oppression of the new government,” Bandara told reporters outside the prison.

His party, the United National Party (UNP). which controls only two seats in the 225-member parliament, echoed the claim, accusing the government of trying to neutralize Wickremesinghe’s political influence.

“They fear he might return to power, and that is why this action,” said Thalatha Athukorala, UNP general secretary.

Recall that Wickremesinghe rose to the presidency in July 2022, after the dramatic ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa amid months of street protests over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence. Though defeated in last year’s election, he has remained active in politics, rallying opposition forces against Dissanayake’s administration.