Sri Lankan authorities have arrested former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa over allegations that donations collected for a children’s hospital were improperly handled.
The 73-year-old was taken into custody by anti-corruption officials at her home in Colombo on Wednesday as part of an investigation into 10 million Sri Lankan rupees, approximately Sh3.6 million, raised through the Siriliya Saviya charity. The funds were reportedly collected to purchase a specialised scanner for Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo. Investigators, however, say the hospital had already received a similar scanner as a donation from China.
Rajapaksa has rejected the allegations and maintains that the money was not misappropriated. Her spokesperson said the funds remain in the charity’s accounts and that there was no fraud.
The former first lady had returned to Sri Lanka on Monday after travelling to Singapore for medical treatment. She had also sought court protection against arrest, but the matter was scheduled to be heard on October 12. Her arrest comes as Sri Lanka’s government intensifies investigations into alleged corruption involving members of the Rajapaksa family.
Her husband, Mahinda Rajapaksa, served as president from 2005 to 2015 and remained a dominant figure in Sri Lankan politics for years. His administration gained widespread support after government forces defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, bringing the country’s decades-long civil war to an end.
The family’s political influence weakened following the economic crisis that triggered widespread protests in 2022. The unrest eventually forced Mahinda’s brother, then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to leave office.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s administration has since reopened several corruption investigations involving the former ruling family.
The Rajapaksas’ eldest son, Namal, has also faced corruption allegations connected to an aircraft procurement deal from his father’s presidency, while another son, Yoshitha, has previously been arrested in a separate corruption investigation.
