News

News

Biggest ever fraud: VAT racket may involve Rs. 10 billion
By Asif Fuard
The CID, which for the past several weeks has been investigating Sri Lanka's biggest ever tax fraud, is yet to question some of the top-rungers at the Inland Revenue Department and fraudulent beneficiaries of the Value Added Tax (VAT) refund cheques probe.

CID detectives are yet to question officials of the Treasury and more officials of the Inland Revenue Department after they found that there had been a misappropriation of Value Added Tax (VAT) refund money of around three and a half billion rupees.

The CID had acted on the accounts review done by the Auditor General’s Department that pointed out the deficit that was arising in the VAT Refund Division. The investigators believe that the amount might hit the Rs. 10 billion mark after all the cheques and illegal transactions are detected.

The CID arrested Ganasiri Zoysa Jayathilake who was the former Deputy Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department’s VAT refund division as he had authorised up to 235 cheques on allegedly fraudulent documents. So far 71 cheques have been detected.

The cheques were drawn in favour of accounts at Pan Asia Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Nations Trust Bank and HNB. The CID hopes to look in to the bank details with regard to the cheques as well.

Mr. Jayathilake, during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner, had allegedly forged several national identity cards and company documents to withdraw the taxpayers’ money.

Incidentally, Mr. Jayathilake’s immediate supervisor A. A. Wijeyapala is due to be appointed as the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue next week.

Top

Back to News