The case against former President Ranil Wickremesinghe over a 2023 visit to the United Kingdom was listed for recall before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, with the Attorney General’s position on whether to file indictments the central question, Hiru News reported.
The proceedings concern allegations that public funds were spent on a September 2023 trip to London presented as an official visit, during which Wickremesinghe attended a ceremony honouring his wife, Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, at the University of Wolverhampton. He and his then Secretary, Saman Ekanayake, are both out on bail.
How the case reached today
The sequence is a matter of record in earlier reporting. When the case was taken up on 29 April, the magistrate said there was sufficient basis to file indictments and pressed for action, warning that “when criminal investigations are delayed, the value of those investigations is diminished.”
On 8 July the Criminal Investigation Department told the court that its investigation was complete and that the relevant extracts had been forwarded to the Attorney General. A state counsel asked for a date to convey the Attorney General’s position, and the court fixed 30 September.
By mid-August, indictments had still not been filed and the Attorney General’s Department said the file remained under review. Investigators had earlier travelled to Britain and sought records through mutual legal assistance; UK government records listing official visits by foreign leaders carry no entry for Wickremesinghe over 22–23 September 2023.
Two points where Hiru’s account differs
Hiru’s report states the case was filed by the Bribery Commission and puts the loss at “over Rs. 15 million.”
Both differ from the established record, and Hiru’s own opening sentence contradicts the first point — it describes the case as “filed by the Criminal Investigation Department.” Prior reporting across multiple outlets consistently attributes the case to the CID and puts the alleged loss at Rs. 16.6 million. We have used the CID attribution and the Rs. 16.6 million figure, and flag the divergence rather than resolving it silently.
No other verified newsroom had filed on Wednesday’s listing at the time of writing; Ada Derana, which carried the story, remains unreachable from our infrastructure.
