News
Attack on Excise Chief possibly linked to audit probe on 10 companies
Excise Commissioner General D.G.M.V. Hapuarachchi was conducting a massive audit inquiry of alleged tax evasion by some 10 top distillery companies when his house was shot at earlier this week, it was revealed yesterday. Mr. Hapuarachchi said he had started an audit check last month on these distillery companies to check out on tax evasion and other frauds since the Government was losing millions in revenue.
He said this audit check was carried out without prior notification and therefore several of the distillery companies were taken by surprise.“I have no known enemies and the only possible reason for the attack on my private residence was due to my official work and the audit. However, nothing can be confirmed until the Police complete their investigations and I have not named any particular suspect,” Mr. Hapuarachchi said.
The Excise Chief said he had not received any threats or warnings prior to the attack and it came as a surprise to him and his family.“In the wake of this attack, I have asked Police Chief N. K. Illangakoon to provide adequate security at my residence at Pamunugama in Ja-ela. However I am yet to receive a response to this written request,” he said.
Mr. Hapuarachchi said security personnel of the Excise Department had been posted at his residence while the Police had increased mobile patrols in the area.
He said a similar gun attack on the Kottawa residence of Excise Special Detection Chief Rosman Fernando on the same day was apparently to mislead and confuse the investigations.
He said Mr. Fernando was purely involved in raids and had made several detections on the illegal sale of alcohol but he was not on the audit team.
“It appears to be the work of the ‘alcohol mafia’ since there is big money to lose if fraud is rooted out early. At present there are 20 distillery companies operating throughout the country and 10 of them are being probed,” Mr. Hapuarachchi said.
In its annual report to Parliament last year, the Excise Department named five distillery companies that were in arrears in taxes amounting to Rs. 1.6 billion. Since then the number of distillery companies in tax arrears has risen to ten. Unidentified gunmen fired several rounds of ammunition at the two residences early on Monday but nobody was injured.
According to police, two special teams have been assigned to arrest the suspects but they are yet to make much headway.Police said the Commissioner General’s request for security at his residence was under consideration. In a related development the Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association (SLASA) decried the attacks and called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure that there would not be a repeat of such intimidation on officials who carried out their work in an independent and just manner. The SLASA urged the authorities to move fast and arrest those responsible since the attacks were of a serious nature.