Police questioned Shiranthi Rajapaksa at her home before taking her to court, which ordered her to be detained for a week pending further investigations. Police later escorted Rajapaksa, who had one eye covered with a bandage following recent surgery, to a vehicle to take her to jail.
Rajapaksa was accused of misusing funds donated to her charity by a state bank for the purchase of a scanner for a government hospital. The then-head of the bank was also arrested for allegedly bypassing procedures to release the money to the charity. The court later granted him bail.
The former first couple’s son, lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, has also been detained on bribery charges.
Former President Rajapaksa and his family were popular among the country’s majority Sinhala Buddhist population after he and his brother, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, led a military campaign that defeated the now-defunct Tamil Tiger rebels and ended Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war in 2009.
However, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s popularity declined after his re-election in 2010 amid allegations of bribery and corruption and accusations of restricting freedoms. He was defeated while seeking a third term in 2015. His family had wielded extensive political power, with his sons, brothers, nephews and nieces occupying senior government positions.
The family returned to power in 2019 when security became a major concern following Islamic State-inspired suicide bombings that killed 267 people at churches and hotels on Easter Sunday.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was elected president later that year. But Sri Lanka subsequently plunged into an economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a decline in tourism and his government’s economic policies. He was eventually forced to resign and flee the country amid massive public protests.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake became president in 2024 on an anti-corruption platform, pledging to take action against anyone suspected of corruption in the Rajapaksa family and previous administrations.
