Sri Lanka's anti-corruption authority arrested former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa on Wednesday, in a case that has placed one of the country's most powerful political families back under the harshest spotlight in years. The 73-year-old wife of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was taken into custody in Colombo by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), according to The Hindu. She is accused of misusing donations collected by her charity for a children's hospital.

Contents

  1. The arrest
  2. The charity at the centre of the case
  3. A family under pressure
  4. The revival of dormant probes
  5. What happens next
  6. Frequently Asked Questions
  7. Sources
  8. Further reading

The arrest

CIABOC officers arrested Shiranthi Rajapaksa at her family's residence in the Colombo suburb of Polhengoda after questioning her for nearly seven hours, Dawn reported. A Colombo magistrate remanded her in custody until October 13 and ordered her admitted to the prison hospital because of an eye condition, according to a court official who spoke to reporters outside the court.

The arrest had a dramatic prelude. Shiranthi Rajapaksa had travelled to Singapore on September 16 for medical treatment, and was served with a summons at Colombo airport to give a statement to police about her charity. She flew back on October 5 after her lawyers filed a court petition seeking to prevent her arrest — but the hearing for anticipatory bail was fixed for October 12, and CIABOC moved first.

"The arrest is in connection with her Siriliya Saviya Foundation," a CIABOC official told reporters at the Rajapaksa home in the capital, per The Hindu.

The charity at the centre of the case

At the heart of the allegations is the Siriliya Saviya Foundation, the charitable organisation Shiranthi Rajapaksa founded and ran during her years as first lady from 2005 to 2015. Investigators say the foundation raised 10 million rupees — about $30,300 — from donors to buy a PET scanner for a children's cancer hospital.

But the scanner, a positron emission tomography machine, had already been donated by the Chinese government, investigators told a court. Despite that, the charity allegedly continued to solicit donations and misused the funds.

Shiranthi Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing, saying the money had not been misappropriated. Her lawyer, Manoj Gamage, told reporters she would contest the charges of misappropriating donations raised for charity.

The case adds to a catalogue of high-profile corruption probes across Asia and beyond that have targeted former office-holders and their relatives.

A family under pressure

The arrest is a major blow to the Rajapaksa family, which dominated Sri Lankan politics for nearly two decades and was ousted amid the country's 2022 economic meltdown. The pressure has been mounting on several fronts:

  • Namal Rajapaksa, the couple's eldest son and an opposition lawmaker, has been held in the Colombo Remand Prison since September 4 in two separate bribery cases, one linked to a 2013 Airbus aircraft deal signed during his father's presidency.
  • On the same day as Shiranthi's arrest, the Colombo High Court ordered Rohitha Bogollagama, a former foreign minister from the Rajapaksa era, to be held in custody until the end of his trial for allegedly misusing state funds in 2006 when he was investment promotion minister.
  • The CIABOC also arrested the former head of a state-owned bank, accusing him of funnelling 10 million rupees to Shiranthi's charity.

The revival of dormant probes

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who came to power promising an end to the impunity that defined the previous political order, has revived long-dormant graft investigations involving members of the once-powerful family. His government argues that the corruption cases that stalled under earlier administrations are now finally moving through the courts.

Supporters of the Rajapaksas, however, are expected to frame the arrests as political score-settling — a narrative that has accompanied every graft case against the family. What is harder to dispute is the pattern: three senior figures from the Rajapaksa orbit have now been taken into custody within days of each other.

What happens next

The immediate next step is the Colombo magistrate's hearing on October 13, when the court will decide whether to extend Shiranthi Rajapaksa's remand. Her anticipatory bail petition remains listed for October 12 — though with the arrest already carried out, her legal team's strategy will have to change. The parallel Financial Crimes Division investigation into the foundation's accounts continues in the background.

For Dissanayake's government, the case is a test of whether its anti-corruption drive is a genuine institutional clean-up or a campaign against its predecessors. Either way, the image of a former first lady being led into court has already become the defining symbol of Sri Lanka's reckoning with its recent past.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Shiranthi Rajapaksa?

Shiranthi Rajapaksa, 73, was the first lady of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015 as the wife of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Born Shiranthi Wickremasinghe, she worked as a hotel receptionist in her youth, was crowned Miss Sri Lanka, and competed in the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants in 1973. She later founded the Carlton Schools of Sri Lanka and the Siriliya Saviya Foundation.

What is she accused of?

She is accused of misusing 10 million rupees (about $30,300) in donations collected by her Siriliya Saviya Foundation, which were intended for a PET scanner for a children's cancer hospital. Investigators say the scanner had already been donated by the Chinese government but the charity kept soliciting donations and allegedly misused the money.

Who else has been arrested in the Rajapaksa corruption crackdown?

Her eldest son, opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa, has been in remand custody since September 4 in bribery cases including one tied to a 2013 Airbus deal. Former foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama was also arrested on October 7 for allegedly misusing state funds in 2006, and the former head of a state-owned bank was accused of channelling 10 million rupees to Shiranthi's charity.

Sources

Further reading