Sri Lanka moved to end elite impunity with arrest of former president

SRI Lanka’s former president and six-time prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was arrested on 22 August for allegedly misusing state resources while in office.

- By Thiruni Kelegama

He is accused of using public funds to attend his wife’s graduation ceremony in London after an official visit to the US in 2023. Wickremesinghe has since been granted bail on a 5m rupee (£12,300) bond.

His arrest represents one of the most consequential moments in the Sri Lanka’s postcolonial history. It marks the first time a former head of state has ever been detained in Sri Lanka, shattering the longstanding assumption that those at the top of the country’s politics remain forever beyond the reach of the law.

The assumption of elite impunity was built on decades of precedent. This reached its apex under the Rajapaksa family, who dominated Sri Lankan politics between 2005 and 2022, as corruption was woven into the very fabric of governance.

The Rajapaksas captured state institutions, placing family members and loyalists in key positions across the bureaucracy, military and judiciary. Public wealth was also diverted for private gain. The certainty that those in power would remain beyond legal reach, regardless of the scale of abuse, became embedded in Sri Lanka’s political DNA.

That certainty cracked in 2022 when mass protests, commonly known as Aragalaya, swept the Rajapaksas from office. The following year, the Sri Lanka’s supreme court held the family responsible for bankrupting the state by mishandling the economy.

This was a landmark ruling, but one that had little material effect. The Rajapaksas were only condemned and not punished. Wickremesinghe’s arrest is different. It shows that accountability has moved beyond a single dynasty and now threatens the entire Sri Lankan political class.