Wasantha Karannagoda

Naval career Early career After completing his schooling, Karannagoda joined the Royal Ceylon Navy as an Officer Cadet on 1 August 1971 in the months following the 1971 JVP insurrection. Following is basic officer training at the Naval and Maritime Academy and completing the sub lieutenant technical course at the Indian Naval Academy gaining a first class; he was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant on 1 February 1974. Specializing as a navigations officer in the executive branch, he followed a navigation specialization course in India from 1979 to 1980. He then served as Flag Lieutenant to Commander of the Navy, Admiral Basil Gunasekara. In 1987, Lieutenant Commander Karannagoda attended the naval command and staff course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Following several at see and shore appointments, he went on to command SLNS Wickrama and then served as Commander, 7th Surveillance Command Squadron.

Governor of North Western Province On 9 December 2021, he was appointed as the Governor of the North Western Province by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In February 2023, he chaired a board of inquiry into the role of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces during the 2022 Sri Lankan protests in May 2023, which found General Shavendra Silva willful neglected his duty that resulted in island-wide violence since the army did not intervene. On 26 April 2023, the U.S. Department of State sanctioned Karannagoda and his wife and banned them from entering the U.S. over credible allegations of human rights violations during the civil war. He is one of the accused in the abduction and killing of 11 mostly Tamil youths between late 2008 and mid 2009. Onn 17 May 2023, President Ranil Wickramasinghe removed three provincial governors including Karannagoda.

Controversies Allegations of war crimes and sanctions Following submissions by International Truth and Justice Project, in March 2025, the Government of the United Kingdom imposed travel sanctions, former Commander of the Army Shavendra Silva and Jagath Jayasuriya, former Commander of the Navy Wasantha Karannagoda and ex-LTTE Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, aka Karuna Amman as part of what the Foreign office called "UK travel bans and asset freezes, target individuals responsible for a range of violations and abuses, such as extrajudicial killings, during the civil war".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this was a unilateral action taken by the UK government and such action does not assist but serve to complicate the national reconciliation process underway in Sri Lanka and went on to say human rights violations in the past need to handle by domestic accountability mechanisms. The Wartime President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected UK governments allegations of human rights violations, stating "We waged war only against the LTTE and not against the Tamil people". Karannagoda had responded accusing the UK government of hypocrisy, claiming that it failed to address atrocities during British colonial rule in India and Sri Lanka as well as the UK government's silence in the ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya. He claimed that that LTTE sympathizers are active in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe attempting to establish a separate state in Sri Lanka by collecting funds to influence politicians in these countries to "impose sanctions on Sri Lankan military leaders who played a key role in defeating the LTTE". He accused the British Prime Minister, a former human rights lawyer using this issue to gain votes. He also urged the Sri Lankan government to stand by its military leaders and be firm against such sanctions.

Allegations of corruption On 3 July 2026, Karannagoda was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on charges of corruption in connection with an ongoing investigation into the recruitment of Yoshitha Rajapaksa into the Sri Lanka Navy without proper documentation in 2006. He was subsequently granted bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court on the same date.

Honors Karannagoda had been awarded the Rana Sura Padakkama (RSP) for gallantry in combat; the service medals the Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV) and the Uttama Seva Padakkama (USP) for distinguished service, the Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal with clasp, the Purna Bhumi Padakkama and the North and East Operations Medal with two clasps; the campaign medal the Riviresa Campaign Services Medal and the commemorative medals the Sri Lanka Navy 50th Anniversary Medal with clasp, the President's Inauguration Medal and the 50th Independence Anniversary Commemoration Medal. He had gained the Surface Warfare Badge and the Commendation Badge.

In 2009, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Kelaniya.