Sri Lanka Moved To End Elite Impunity With Arrest Of Ex-President

The timing of the arrest deepens its significance. Sri Lanka is currently under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout program to help stabilise its economy. It was negotiated by Wickremesinghe in the wake of bankruptcy and is now being carried forward by the National People's Power (NPP) government.

The bailout loan comes with punitive terms. Higher taxes, subsidy cuts and shrinking public services are all being shouldered by ordinary citizens. They pay daily for a crisis born of elite misrule. In this context, elite accountability is not just symbolic; it is the bare minimum of justice.

This moment is defining for the NPP government. Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected in 2024 having pledged to prosecute corruption and abolish the executive presidency – the constitutional embodiment of unaccountable power since 1978. His government faces both opportunity and test in Wickremesinghe's arrest.

Few individuals embodied establishment politics more fully than Wickremesinghe did. The immediate response to his arrest was telling. Three former presidents, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena, along with opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, rushed to show solidarity with the detained ex-president. This suggests that the old guard's instinct for self-preservation remains strong.

If prosecutions prove selective, the NPP also risks echoing the very cynicism it sought to displace – wielding justice as a political weapon rather than institutionalizing it as a principle. While the government has already launched investigations into a broad swathe of former officials – from a member of the Rajapaksa dynasty to more than 20 ex-ministers – these early moves could be symbolic.

The real test lies with the Rajapaksas. Their rule was virtually synonymous with impunity. If they, too, were truly held to account, it would mark a genuine transformation from dynastic protection to the beginning of the rule of law.

Such moves carry risks. Prosecutions may be dismissed as political vendettas , further polarizing Sri Lanka's already fragmented society. The protests that erupted in Colombo following Wickremesinghe's arrest offer early evidence of this dynamic.

But the danger of inaction is greater. To do nothing, after an economic collapse born of corruption and elite mismanagement, would reinforce public cynicism and effectively license future impunity. It would tell citizens already enduring austerity that, once again, those at the top remain beyond reach.

Wickremesighe's arrest also sends a signal beyond Sri Lanka's borders. For years, the country's reputation was defined by scandals and violations that went unpunished.

In 2015, for example, Sri Lanka's central bank issued ten times the advertised amount of 30-year bonds at inflated interest rates. This cost the state an estimated 1.6 billion rupees (roughly US$5.3 million) in excess losses.

Sign up for one of our free newsletters

• The Daily Report Start your day right with Asia Times' top stories
• AT Weekly Report A weekly roundup of Asia Times' most-read stories

Then, several years later, no criminal proceedings were brought against senior officials for failing to act on intelligence warnings ahead of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people.

This pattern of impunity extended beyond domestic scandals. The UN Human Rights Council had passed multiple resolutions on Sri Lanka over alleged war crimes and enforced disappearances. Yet here, too, the state's response remained the same. It made promises of accountability that never materialized.

The arrest of Wickremesinghe suggests this may be changing. It is a signal that Sri Lanka is finally serious about the rule of law – not just as a slogan but as practice.

Sri Lanka's myth of elite untouchability has cracked, but whether it shatters completely depends on what follows. While Wickremesinghe's arrest is historic, lasting transformation requires institutions capable of sustained accountability.

The choice before the NPP is clear: accountability as a spectacle or as a system. Having paid the price of impunity, Sri Lankans may finally be positioned to demand its opposite.

Thiruni Kelegama is a lecturer in modern South Asian Ssudies, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies., University of Oxford .

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Sign up here to comment on Asia Times stories Or Sign in to an existing accoun

Thank you for registering!

An account was already registered with this email. Please check your inbox for an authentication link.

• Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
• Click to print (Opens in new window) Print