Former First Lady of Sri Lanka Arrested Amid Corruption Allegations

Sri Lanka’s Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) arrested former First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa on Wednesday, following allegations that her charity misused donations collected for a children’s hospital.

The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reopened long-frozen corruption investigations, which include members of the Rajapaksa family that dominated Sri Lankan politics for nearly two decades.

The anti-corruption commission stated that the 73-year-old wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested in Colombo and is scheduled to appear before a judge.

A commission official told journalists outside the Rajapaksa family home in the capital that the arrest is linked to her charity, Siriala Savya.

Shiranthi had traveled to Singapore on September 16 for medical treatment and received a summons at Colombo Airport to provide a police statement regarding her charity.

She returned on Monday after filing a court application to prevent her arrest, but a hearing on her request for anticipatory bail has been scheduled for October 12.

Police said authorities wish to question Shiranthi regarding donations of 10 million rupees ($30,300) collected by the Siriala Savya charity to purchase a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner for a local cancer hospital.

Investigators informed the court that the Chinese government had already donated the scanner, but the charity continued to collect funds and allegedly misused the money, according to the charges.

Shiranthi denied committing any offense, insisting that no funds were embezzled.

Other family members are also facing legal troubles.

The former First Lady’s eldest son, opposition parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, is in pre-trial detention on charges related to a 2013 deal to purchase Airbus aircraft, which was concluded during his father’s presidency.

The Rajapaksa family consistently denies corruption allegations, asserting that the cases against its members are politically motivated.

Mahinda Rajapaksa served as president of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 and remains one of the country’s most influential political figures, despite the family’s waning influence following the massive public protests that ousted his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, from the presidency in 2022.