Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday in connection with allegations of misuse of state funds, local television channel Ada Derana reported.

Wickremesinghe, 76, was arrested after arriving at the CID office in the capital Colombo to record a statement in an investigation into his visit to London to attend his wife's graduation ceremony, the report said.

Wickremesinghe had stopped in London in 2023 on his way back from Havana, where he attended a G77 summit. In the UK capital, he and his wife attended a University of Wolverhampton ceremony.

Wickremesinghe had maintained that his wife's travel expenses were met by her and that no state funds were used.

However, the CID has alleged that Wickremesinghe used government money for his travel on a private visit and that his bodyguards were also paid by the state.

“We are producing him before the Colombo Fort magistrate,” the officer said, according to AFP, adding that charges relate to the use of state resources for personal purposes.

The police had previously questioned his staff about the travel expenses.

A Sri Lanka Police spokesperson did not immediately confirm the arrest. Wickremesinghe's office did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

A lawyer who served as Sri Lanka's prime minister a record six times, Wickremesinghe was made president in 2022 during the island nation's debilitating financial crisis.

Wickremesinghe, who is the leader of the United National Party (UNP), took over after widespread protests caused by a economic meltdown forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee Sri Lanka and later resign.

Born into a prominent family of politicians and businessmen with large interests in the media, a 29-year-old Wickremesinghe was made the country's youngest cabinet minister by his uncle, President Junius Jayewardene, in 1978.

In 1994, following assassinations that wiped out several of his senior colleagues, Wickremesinghe became leader of the UNP.

(With inputs from agencies)