Presidential immunity on trial: Boundaries of accountability from Washington to Colombo

THE arrest of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe illustrates the structural tension in Sri Lanka’s constitutional design. In September 2023, while serving as president, Wickremesinghe traveled to Havana for the G77 Summit and to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. On his return journey, he stopped in the United Kingdom to attend a ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton, where his wife was awarded an honorary professorship. Investigators allege that state funds were improperly used to finance the UK leg of the trip. Wickremesinghe has denied wrongdoing, insisting that his wife personally covered her travel expenses.

- By Nimendra Mawalagedara, PhD

On 22 August 2025, he was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department and remanded in custody, making him the first former Sri Lankan head of state to be detained in this way. The Guardian reported that the charges may include penalties of up to twenty years’ imprisonment and fines of roughly Rs. 16.6 million (about $55,000). His arrest forms part of President Anura Kumara Disanayake’s anti-corruption campaign against senior public officials.

The difficulty raised by Wickremesinghe’s arrest is not only whether he misused public funds, but how such conduct should be classified. Was the London stopover part of his official duties as president, a symbolic or soft power diplomatic gesture undertaken in his capacity as Sri Lanka’s head of state, or a purely private engagement? The problem is that without such classifications, accountability after office becomes a matter of political discretion rather than constitutional principle. This is where the contrast with the United States is instructive. In Trump v. United States (2024), the Supreme Court sought to address this very problem by constructing a framework for classifying presidential acts. Whether one agrees with that ruling or not, it represents a systematic attempt to resolve the tension between presidential conduct, immunity, and accountability.

Trump v. United States (2024): Redefining Presidential Criminal Liability