Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was taken to a hospital on Monday for urgent medical care, his party said — though his spokesperson has dismissed the reports of hospitalisation as false, leaving conflicting accounts of the 80-year-old leader's condition.The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said Rajapaksa was admitted in the morning of October 12 and was under observation in the intensive care unit, according to a PTI report carried by The Hindu. Party officials said doctors were keeping him under observation but gave no further details of his condition.
Spokesperson denies reports
However, Rajapaksa's media spokesperson, Manoj Gamage, dismissed the hospitalisation reports as false, telling The Morning that the former president was at his residence and was in good physical and mental health. Gamage alleged that political opponents were spreading the reports to portray Rajapaksa as weakened, and urged the public not to be misled.
Separately, a source from Rajapaksa's team told Newswire that the 80-year-old had been taken to a private hospital in Colombo for a routine medical checkup, was in stable condition, and denied that he was seriously ill or receiving treatment in the ICU.
Family faces corruption probes
The hospitalisation reports come amid legal proceedings involving Rajapaksa's family. His wife Shiranthi and elder son Namal face separate investigations over alleged financial irregularities. Namal Rajapaksa, a parliamentarian and senior SLPP figure, was remanded in September in connection with an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing, while his mother was remanded last week in a separate case involving the alleged misuse of public funds, The Hindu reported.
Mahinda Rajapaksa served as Sri Lanka's president from 2005 to 2015 and later as prime minister. He was in office when government forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, ending the island's nearly three-decade civil war. His family's political fortunes collapsed during Sri Lanka's 2022 economic crisis, when mass protests forced his younger brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the presidency. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, elected in 2024 on an anti-corruption platform, has pledged to pursue corruption allegations against figures from previous administrations.
Sources: The Hindu: Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa admitted to hospital for urgent medical care; Newswire: Mahinda Rajapaksa undergoes medical checkup; team denies reports of serious illness