COLOMBO — The wife of Sri Lanka’s powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been arrested over allegations that a charity she is linked to when she was first lady misused donations raised for a children’s hospital.Anti-corruption authorities arrested 73-year-old Shiranthi Rajapaksa at her Colombo home on Wednesday.Police later took her before a court, which ordered her detention 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 was also arrested for allegedly circumventing procedures in releasing the money to the charity. The court later released him on bail.The former first couple’s son, lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, has also been detained on charges of bribery.Police are questioning Rajapaksa over the 10 million rupees ($30,300) collected by the Siriliya Saviya charity, meant to be spent on a specialized scanner for Colombo’s Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital.But officials say such a scanner had already been donated by the Chinese government.Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing and says the money has not been appropriated.She returned to Sri Lanka on Monday from Singapore, where she was receiving medical treatment. She had filed a court petition to try to prevent her arrest, but the hearing was set for 12 October.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.His popularity declined after his re-election in 2010 however, over rampant 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 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 pandemic, a tourism downturn and his economic decisions.He was forced to resign and flee the country amid massive public protests.Anura Kumara Dissanayake later replaced him and became president, for which he campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket in 2024, promising to take action against anyone suspected of corruption in the Rajapaksa family and administrations that preceded them.
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