Sri Lanka arrests ex-first lady in charity graft probe

Sri Lanka's anti-graft authority has arrested former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa over allegations of misusing donations collected for a children's hospital. According to the KahawaTungu, the 73-year-old wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested at their Colombo home on Wednesday. The charity, Siriliya Saviya, had collected 10 million rupees ($30,300; £22,800) for a specialised scanner for Colombo's Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital, but officials say the scanner had already been donated by the Chinese government.

Shiranthi Rajapaksa has denied any wrongdoing and says the money has not been appropriated, her spokesperson Manoj Gamage, also Mahinda Rajapaksa's spokesperson, said the money is safe in Siriliya's accounts and that no fraud has occurred. She was questioned by anti-corruption authorities for nearly seven hours and was remanded in custody until October 13 by a Colombo magistrate, who also ordered her to be held in a prison hospital due to an eye condition.

The New Straits Times and South China Morning Post reported that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's government has revived long-dormant graft investigations involving members of the once-powerful Rajapaksa family. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) also arrested the former head of a state-owned bank, Pradeep Kariyawasam, in connection with a 10 million rupee donation to the charity.

Shiranthi Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka on Monday from Singapore, where she was receiving medical treatment.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Punch Nigeria, KahawaTungu, New Straits Times, South China Morning Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.