Apollo trying to influence Customs on behalf of Periceyl

The Customs Department obtained more information relating to the Customs fraud case in conjunction with Periceyl Ltd, a subsidiary of Distilleries Corporation of Sri Lanka (DCSL), (controlled by business tycoon Harry Jayawardena) when they questioned Wimal Karunaratne, Manager DCSL, Seeduwa on Thursday.

This came amidst reports that some officials at Apollo Hospital, another Jayawardena controlled entity, were offered free medical check ups for the Periceyl investigating officers at the Customs.

Customs sources said that this was done in a bid to influence the Customs officials. “We are planning to look into this as well,” a Customs source said.

They said that Karunaratne when questioned had provided information to make a strong case against Periceyl.

Royle Janz, Director Periceyl was sent summons to report to the Customs Department this Wednesday, but he had requested to be present a day earlier, on September 4 citing some work related reasons.

Customs officials, some months ago, stumbled on documents which showed DCSL was swindling the state for the last 10 years for over Rs.1500 million with under invoicing. The source said that it was a Customs summons that was served on Karunaratne and Jansz and not a court summons, as reported in The Sunday Times FT last week.