While there was no repeat of the dramatic scenes inside or outside the Court like in August when the former President was first produced in Court, there were a large number of lawyers present to support him on 29 October 2025. A small crowd of his supporters too lined up outside the court to cheer him on. The former president is on bail after he was released under exceptional medical circumstances on 26 August by the former Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura. She has since been appointed to the High Court.
The former president was accompanied this time by his wife, Mrs. Maithree Wickramasinghe while several politicians too were present in court to support him. The case before court is that President Wickremesinghe attended a private function at a British university honouring his wife, Prof. Wickramasinghe with public funds.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Dileepa Peiris raised questions regarding the veracity of the medical reports submitted to court by counsel for Mr. Wickremesinghe based on which he was given bail. He said the medical reports cannot be accepted as he was granted bail for having critical medical conditions and was kept in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in hospital. However, he was able to walk out of hospital within a few days which raises questions about the medical reports and hence the Magistrate should consider cancelling bail.
He also alleged that without any court order, the Defence had obtained medical reports endorsed by six specialist doctors via Deputy Director K.P.A. Wijesinghe of the National Hospital and submitted them to court. He questioned the accuracy of these reports.
Deputy Solicitor General Wasantha Perera presenting the progress report on the substantive case at hand, which is for using public funds for an alleged private trip, said that investigations are ongoing and that a statement needs to be obtained from Ms. Saroja Sirisena, who served as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK at the time of the presidential visit.
Senior State Counsel Samadari Piyasena and State Counsel Wishwa Wijesuriya made up the rest of the team representing the Attorney General’s Department.
Onetime Attorney General Tilak Marapana P.C. and Mr. Anuja Premaratne P.C appeared for the former president. Mr. Ronald C. Perera, P.C., and Prashanthi Mahindaratne made up his legal team.
His lawyers argued that the former president had undertaken the visit 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.
His lawyers argued that the former president had undertaken the visit 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.
The progress report submitted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) contained information on the findings made so far. The details are as listed below:-
1. There were no documents available at the Europe and North America Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pertaining to the 2023 visit by the former president to the United Kingdom.
2. In the communication issued by the Sri Lanka High Commission in London marked ‘urgent’, the visit of the former president on 2023.09.22-23 has been referred to as “Private visit to attend the graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton.”
3. The usual procedure is that at the end of an official overseas, a report is sent to the MFA via the Sri Lanka mission in the relevant country detailing the outcome of the visit, but there was no such report available.
4. A sum of Rs. 13,370,350.82 out of Rs. 16,270,572.83 forwarded to the Foreign Ministry under Presidential Expenditure Head 001-01-01-0-1102 in relation to the UK visit has been spent. Furthermore, both the allocation amounting to Rs. 16,270,572.83 for the UK visit and Rs. 39,865.14 paid as casual allowance to Ms. Sandra Perera have been provided under Presidential Expenditure Head 001-01-01-0-1102.
5. The expenses for the U.K. visit on the former President, First Lady Maithree Wickramasinghe and Mr. Wickremesinghe’s Private Secretary Ms. Sandra Perera had been borne by the allocations of the Presidential Secretariat.
6. Monies allocated to the Presidential Secretariat must be utilised strictly for official activities but Rs.13,370,301.82 had been spent from funds from the President’s allocations and Rs.3,274,301.39 from the allocations of the Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Navy.
7. There is video and photographic evidence of the visit by the former president to Cuba and the U.S.A. from 2023.09.13 to2023.09.22, but there is no such video or photographic evidence available of the U.K. visit.
8. It was estimated that a cost of GBP 40,445 would be needed for the U.K. visit from 2023.09.22-23 and the then Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake had authorised the payment by writing ‘pls. grant allocations’ and forwarded it to Senior Additional Secretary Sarath Kumara who in turn sent the request to the Chief Finance Officer at the Secretariat. Mr. Ekanayake said he had acted under Financial Regulations 136 (The Financial Regulations of the Government of Sri Lanka) in his capacity as the Chief Accounting Officer and sanctioned the release of the Rs.16, 270,572.83 which is the equivalent in local currency to GBP 44,445 at the time.
9. Under the Financial Regulations, the Secretary to the President is entrusted with the sole responsibility for the allocation of funds for overseas visits by the President. Under F.R it’s the Secretary to the President who can grant approval for the disbursement of funds and in his capacity as the Accounting Officer, bears the ultimate responsibility.
10. Monies from the annual budgetary allocations can only be released for official visits . No state funds can be used for private tours.
11. By stating ‘Pls. grant allocations and imprest”, the Secretary to the President has made the authorisation under F.R. 136.
The Court was informed that while the former President had submitted a document titled “Graduation luncheon invitation for Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Sri Lanka and Professor Maithree Wickremesinghe, First Lady of Sri Lanka, an investigation was launched to gather information regarding this via the Europe and North America Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lanka High Commission in London.
The CID informed the court that there was no copy of the letter of invitation submitted by the former President available with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Sri Lanka High Commission in London had responded to the CID query by stating that “There is no record in the file to indicate that the invitation referred to in the Ministry letter under reference had been received by the High Commission.”
The CID informed court that the investigation into the case so far has established that state funds had been used for a private visit by the former president, the First Lady and staff members and this amounted to an offence under the Public Property Act.