Sri Lanka’s former president was admitted to hospital on Saturday, a day after he was charged with using public funds to finance private international travel, as the government intensified its crackdown on corruption, The Guardian reported.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76, was remanded in custody on Friday after being accused of using taxpayers’ money to pay for a two-day visit to the UK in September 2023 to attend a ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton granting an honorary professorship to his wife.

Wickremesinghe has denied the misuse of state money, and said his wife paid her own travel expenses. The visit took place upon Wickremesinghe’s return from the G77 summit in Havana and the UN general assembly in New York, according to The Guardian.

The offences carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail and an estimated fine of 16.6m rupees (£41,000).