Sri Lanka former president Wickremesinghe awaits indictment

Colombo, Jul 8 (PTI) The next hearing in the case of misusing public funds against former president Ranil Wickremesinghe will take place on September 30, a Sri Lankan court announced Wednesday. Wickremesinghe became the first president to be arrested after he was accused of misusing public funds to attend a graduation of his wife Maithri Wickremesinghe at the Wolverhampton University in the UK in 2023. The former president now awaits indictment as the CID officials told the Colombo Fort magistrate on Wednesday that investigations have been completed and the report forwarded to the Attorney General for further action. The magistrate then fixed the next hearing of the case to September 30. Wickremesinghe was arrested and remanded in August last year. He was released on bail after a week. The prosecutors have argued that the former president attending his wife’s graduation was a personal issue and therefore using public funds to attend it was an abuse of state resources. Wickremesinghe’s secretary at the time Saman Ekanayake is also an accused for his action to approve the expenditure amounting to LKR 16.6 million. PTI CORR NPK NPK