3 Lankans sentenced in huge VAT refund scam

Colombo High Court Judge Kumudini Wickramasinghe on Friday sentenced three people for a huge value added tax (VAT) refund fraud of over SLRs4 billion, the ‘Mirror’ reported.

Selliah Subramaniam, a businessman, was fined Rs100 million and jailed for 13 months.
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Abdul Kareem alias Rizwin was sentenced to one year in jail and fined Rs50,000 for fraudulently withdrawing Rs188 million as VAT refunds while Shabdeen Abdulla was given eight months in jailed and fined for false business registration and identity card forgery.

All the three were in remand custody for seven years.

Meanwhile, ‘Colombo Gazette’ reported on Saturday  that Interpol’s assistance has been sought by police to track down eight suspects wanted in connection with this multi million rupee VAT fraud.

An open warrant has been issued to arrest the suspects, who are believed to be overseas, the police media unit said.

The accused had committed the crime between 2002 and 2004 at the Inland Revenue Department. They were charged with fraud following a case filed by the Finance Ministry in 2006.

Muslim parliamentarians back ban on hate speech

Sri Lankan Muslim parliamentarians are backing a new cabinet paper, expected to be presented by Minister of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkara, seeking a ban on hate speech, ‘The Sunday Leader’ reported on April 14.

Senior Minister A. H. M. Fowzie said such legislation should be introduced to safeguard co-existence of different communities. If a bill banning hate speech is tabled, all Muslim parliamentarians in would back it.

“We need to safeguard the freedom that we won after defeating the LTTE. As Muslim MPs we must support the legislation,” he said.

Minister Rishard Badiuddeen said that he and his political party too will also back the cabinet paper.

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) General Secretary Hassan Ali also said that the party will support the cabinet paper if it is put forward by Minister Nananyakkara.

He said the SLMC high command had discussed the matter but no decision had been taken on the issue.





 

 

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