Former first lady is arrested on corruption allegations

[AP Photo]

The wife of Sri Lanka’s powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was detained Wednesday (yesterday, Macau time) on allegations of misusing donations received for her charity when she was first lady.

Police questioned Shiranthi Rajapaksa at her home and later took her before a court, which ordered her detained for a week pending investigations. Police then escorted Rajapaksa, who had one eye bandaged from recent surgery, to a vehicle to be taken to a jail.

Rajapaksa was accused of misusing funds that her charity received as a donation from a state bank earmarked for the purchase of a scanner for a government hospital. The then-head of the bank also was arrested for allegedly circumventing procedures in releasing the money to the charity. The court released him on bail.

The former first couple’s son, lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, also has been detained on charges of bribery.

Ex-President Rajapaksa and his family were adored by the country’s majority ethnic Sinhala Buddhists after he and his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa led a military campaign to defeat the now-defunct Tamil Tiger rebels and end a 26-year civil war in the island nation in 2009.

However, his popularity declined after his re-election in 2010 over allegations of bribery, corruption and the stifling of freedoms, leading to his defeat while seeking a third term in 2015. His family had wielded unbridled power — with his son, brothers, nephews and nieces holding top government positions.

The family made a comeback in 2019 when security emerged as a key concern following Islamic State-inspired suicide bomb attacks that killed 267 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected president later that year, but then the country suffered an economic crash brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, a tourism downturn and his economic decisions. He was forced to resign and flee the country amid massive public protests.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake became president on an anti-corruption platform in 2024 promising to take action against anyone suspected of corruption in the Rajapaksa family and previous administrations. MDT/AP