A Sri Lankan court has granted bail to former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was arrested last week over allegations that he misused state funds while in office.
Wickremesinghe, 76, joined the court hearing on Tuesday via Zoom from a state-run hospital where he was admitted over health concerns.
The case against him is based on an investigation into a visit he made to Britain in 2023 in which he spent $55,000 of government funds to attend a graduation lunch as part of celebrations of his wife’s honorary professorship at a university there.
Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura ordered Wickremesinghe’s release on a 5-million-rupee ($16,600) bond after a lengthy hearing held under tight security.
Hundreds of supporters, protesters and opposition politicians gathered outside the court in central Colombo before the hearing.
One protester, Samarasiri Kuruwitaarachchi, 69, told The Associated Press news agency that the government has failed to deliver on the promises it made before last year’s presidential election and is now “trying to hunt down the political opponents”.
Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, deputy leader of Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP), told reporters outside the court that the demonstrations are a “sign of the independence of our judiciary”.
“We came out in support of democracy and due process. The government should continue measures to fight against corruption. We have no objection to that,” Kariyawasam said.
The UNP has said Wickremesinghe, who lost power in last year’s election, is innocent and suggested that the case against him is politically motivated, which Sri Lanka’s ruling party, headed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, denies.
A lawyer by profession, Wickremesinghe also served as Sri Lanka’s prime minister a record six times before becoming president in 2022.
The former president maintains that his wife’s travel expenses in Britain were met by her personally and no state funds were used for the visit.
Dissanayake has led a campaign to stamp out endemic corruption on the island nation, which is still emerging from its worst economic crisis in 2022.
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