The former president of Sri Lanka arrested

The former president of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was arrested as part of the alleged abusive use of funds, police said.

The accusation concerns the trips he made abroad while being president.

Friday, he was to appear before a court of first instance of the capital Colombo, after having already made a declaration to the Department of Criminal Investigations (CID) earlier in the day.

WickREMESINGHE was president from 2022 to 2024, the entry into the role after the worst economic crisis of the country sparked a popular uprising which scared its predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

He was widely recognized for helping to put the island nation back on the path of economic recovery.

Wickremesinghe also served six distinct conditions as Prime Minister from the 1990s.

According to BBC Sinhala, the 76 -year -old man made 23 trips abroad during his time as president, at the cost of more than 600 million rupees ($ 2 million; 1.4 million pounds sterling).

Friday’s arrest relates to a judgment on the United Kingdom in 2023, on WickREMESINGHE along the G77 summit in Cuba, reports the AFP news agency.

On this occasion, he and his wife attended a ceremony from the University of Wolverhampton.

The Sri Lanka CID alleys that it was a private visit for which public funds were used – something Wickremesinghe denied.

It is a story in development. Please come back for other updates.