Shiranthi Rajapaksa Arrested: What is the case against the wife of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa?

Shiranthi Rajapaksa, the wife of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested Wednesday on charges of misusing donations she received for her charity while she was first lady, the AP news agency reported.

Anti-corruption authorities arrested Rajapaksa, 73, from Colombo on September 7, the BBC reports.

Read also | Asian Games 2026: Pakistan qualifies for men’s cricket final to face India or SL

Rajapaksa is being questioned over 10 million rupees ($30,300) in state bank donations received by the charity Siriliya Saviya to be spent on a specialized scanner for the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo, news agencies said.

What is against her?

The allegations against Rajapaksa point out that such a scanner has already been donated by the Chinese government. The then head of the bank was also arrested for allegedly circumventing procedures in releasing money to the charity. The court later released him on bail.

Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing and says the money was not misappropriated. She returned to Sri Lanka this Monday from Singapore where she was undergoing treatment. She filed a motion to try to prevent her arrest, but a hearing was set for October 12.

After questioning Rajapaksa at her home, police produced her in court, where she was remanded in custody for a week pending investigations. Police then escorted Rajapaksa, who had one eye bandaged from a recent operation, to a vehicle where he was to be taken to prison, the AP reported.

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

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s spokesman, Manoj Gamage, said the money was safe in Siriliya’s accounts and that there had been no fraud, the BBC reported.

All about Mahinda Rajapaksa, family

Mahinda Rajapaksa served as President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015. Rajapaksa and his family were adored by the country’s majority ethnic Sinhalese Buddhist community after they led a military campaign with his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to defeat the now-defunct Tamil Tiger rebels and end the war on his island in the first half of his 2609 presidency.

However, his popularity declined after his re-election in 2010 due to allegations of bribery, corruption and stifling of freedoms, which led to his defeat when he sought a third term in 2015. His family wielded unbridled power, with his son, brothers, nephews and nieces holding top government positions.

The family returned in 2019, when security emerged as a key issue following Islamic State-inspired suicide bombings that killed 267 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday. Mahinda’s brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected president later that year.

However, in 2022, protests broke out across the country as the economic crash caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the decline in tourism and his economic decisions.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who served as leader at the time, was eventually overthrown.

in 2024 Arun Dissanayake, a Marxist Member of Parliament from Colombo representing the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), defeated prominent names including the incumbent President Wounded by Wickemesinghe, who finished third with just 17 percent of the vote and Nam

Read also | Mahinda Rajapakse confirmed 30 months in prison for Sarath Fonseka

al Rajapaksa, son of ex President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who won less than 3 percent of the vote in the election.

Dissanayake became president on an anti-corruption platform in 2024, promising to take action against anyone suspected of corruption in the Rajapaksa family and the previous administration.