A total of Rs 1.4 billion in public funds has been spent on the security of former presidents and the widow of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa from 1 January 2024 to 15 December 2024, Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala revealed in Parliament today (17).
Delivering a statement, Wijepala detailed the costs and the number of security personnel allocated to each individual. He further announced that the Tri-Forces security provided to former presidents would be removed starting next week, with only police personnel continuing to provide protection.
The security details are as follows:
- Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa: 228 Tri-Forces personnel and 60 police officers.
- Former President Maithripala Sirisena: 4 Tri-Forces personnel and 60 police officers.
- Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa: 188 Tri-Forces personnel and 22 police officers.
- Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe: 57 Tri-Forces personnel and 60 police officers.
- Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga: 60 police officers.
- Hema Premadasa: 10 police officers.
The minister also provided a breakdown of the expenditure borne by the Ministry of Defence, the Police, and the Presidential Secretariat for these security arrangements this year.
The financial details are as follows:
- Mahinda Rajapaksa: Tri-Forces – Rs 328 million, Police – Rs 327 million, President’s Office – Rs 55 million. Total: Rs 710 million
- Maithripala Sirisena: Tri-Forces – Rs 6 million, Police – Rs 185 million, President’s Office – Rs 16 million. Total: Rs 207 million
- Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Tri-Forces – Rs 258 million, Police – Rs 39 million, President’s Office – Rs 10 million. Total: Rs 307 million
- Ranil Wickremesinghe: For three months this year, following the 2024 Presidential Election: Tri-Forces – Rs 19 million, Police – Rs 60 million, President’s Office – Rs 3 million. Total: Rs 82 million
- Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga: Police – Rs 99 million, President’s Office – Rs 12 million. Total: Rs 111 million
- Hema Premadasa: Police – Rs 30 million, President’s Office – Rs 3 million. Total: Rs 33 million
Wijepala further emphasized that some parties have falsely portrayed the re-arrangement of security details as targeting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “That is a blatant lie. We haven’t targeted anyone personally. This decision was made based on timely security assessments. We will revisit these assessments every six months,” he said.
He questioned the need for such a large number of Tri-Forces personnel, asking, “Why do they need such a large amount of Tri-Forces personnel? They must explain this. They need to provide answers as to whether these personnel were used for the personal bidding of these former presidents. They must answer to the public,” he stressed.
The government hopes that the new arrangements will save at least Rs 1.2 billion annually, he added.
Security Personnel and Vehicle Arrangements:
Speaking about the vehicles and the number of police officers provided under the new arrangements, Wijepala stated the following:
- Mahinda Rajapaksa: 60 police officers, one police vehicle, and three vehicles from the President’s Office.
- Maithripala Sirisena: 60 police officers, one police vehicle, and three vehicles from the President’s Office.
- Gotabaya Rajapaksa: 22 police officers and the same number of vehicles.
- Ranil Wickremesinghe: 90 police officers and the same number of vehicles.
- Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga: 60 police officers and the same number of vehicles.
- Hema Premadasa: 10 police officers and two vehicles from the President’s Office.
