•  Piyasena informed the Court that investigations were concluded and relevant files forwarded to the AG
• Said the British university had invited Wickremesinghe

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (8) ordered that the Attorney General’s (AG) stance on the legal action to be taken against former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake be presented to Court during the next hearing. The case filed over the alleged misappropriation of public funds against Wickremesinghe and Ekanayake has been adjourned till 30 September.

The case was taken up yesterday before Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena. During the proceedings, Senior State Counsel Samadari Piyasena informed the Court that investigations into the incident had been concluded and that the relevant files had been forwarded to the AG. Piyasena further requested that a date be granted to communicate the AG’s position on the matter.

Accordingly, the Magistrate ordered that the complaint be recalled on 30 September and directed that the AG’s stance be notified to the Court on that date.

The case was filed on allegations that Wickremesinghe misused Government funds to travel to the UK in 2023 to attend a ceremony honouring his wife, Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe, at a British university, while serving as the Head of State. Wickremesinghe was arrested on 22 August of last year (2025), after appearing before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to provide a statement, and was subsequently remanded until 26 August 2025, after being produced in Court.

Following the consideration of medical reports, Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura later ordered his release on three surety bails of Rs five million each. The case was then fixed for 29 October 2025. According to the case, the CID arrested Wickremesinghe on 22 August 2025 over allegations that he misused Rs 16.6 million in public funds during a one-and-a-half-day visit to the UK, which was presented as an official trip. However, the lawyers representing Wickremesinghe had submitted that the visit was made following an invitation from a British university, and that there is no clear separation between official and private visits made by a sitting President. Therefore, they argued, no misappropriation of State funds had occurred.