Sri Lanka's ex-Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga arrested in graft crackdown

Sri Lanka's former tourism minister was arrested Wednesday over alleged insurance fraud at the start of the country's unprecedented economic crisis.

Prasanna Ranatunga was a senior member of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government, which was toppled in July 2022 following months of protests over economic mismanagement and corruption.

Ranatunga had already been convicted for extortion, and in the latest case against him the ex-minister is accused of defrauding a state insurance firm in 2021.

He was briefly detained Wednesday before being released on 100,000 rupees ($333) cash bail, ahead of a hearing on January 16. Colombo's chief magistrate, Asanga Bodaragama, imposed a travel ban.

Ranatunga has already been handed a two-year suspended prison sentence and was fined 25 million rupees for extorting money from a local businessman.

The 58-year-old former minister was also ordered to pay the businessman one million rupees, and failure to comply would result in an additional 12-year jail sentence.

Sri Lanka suffered an economic meltdown in 2022, when it defaulted on its $46 billion external debt.

There is no official data on state corruption losses, but activists estimate it to be billions of dollars over several decades. Sri Lanka's GDP per capita stood at $4,515 in 2024.

The new administration has introduced legislation empowering the independent Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to recover stolen assets, even without criminal convictions.