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Shalika says “I’m innocent, vested interests used Foundation for illegal cash transfers”
Founder of the controversial Sri Lankan NGO allegedly embroiled in an elaborate money laundering scheme involving three countries and the US Federal Reserve, is claiming innocence and that, her bank account credentials were abused by unknown persons.
Shalika Foundation Director Shalika Perera yesterday told the Sunday Times that her company’s credentials were used by vested interests for illegal cash transfers.
“I am a person from Attidiya (Ratmalana) and my family has been living in this area for generations. I started this foundation to help Sri Lankans, as I believe I can do something more for this country,” Ms. Perera said, stressing she has long term political aspirations, hence this foundation to conduct social work.
The Shalika Foundation director broke her silence this week, nearly two months after Chinese hackers broke into the website of the Bangladeshi (Central) Bank, stole credentials and codes and sent instructions to the US Federal Reserve to transfer nearly US$ 1 billion, partly to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
While the money (US$ 81 million) reached account holders in the Philippines, in Sri Lanka, an alert bank, sensing the sum of US$ 20 million to be unusually high for the recipient- Shalika Foundation-, tipped off international banking authorities.
Details of the heist and its local links were first broken by the Sunday Times on March 13 and a week later, a Colombo court impounded the passports of its directors including Ms Perera, based on a CID report.
Ms Perera evaded calls and SMS from the Sunday Times for the past two weeks, although the paper was in possession of her mobile number. She, however, agreed to speak to the paper on Friday, after giving an interview to Reuters’ news agency.
“I am hoping to get into politics in the future, and I have communicated this fact as the main reason I started this foundation, to the officials of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank (CB) and the Criminal Investigations Dept (CID), when I spoke to them,” Ms. Perera said by phone.
CID officials together with the CB’s FIU recently recorded a statement from her and four other directors of the Foundation. Ms Perera had told them she expected US$ 20 million to come from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund a power plant and other projects in Sri Lanka.
She said she had no direct dealing with JICA, but the deal was arranged by an acquaintance she met in Sri Lanka, with connections in Japan.
A local businessman Priyankara Jayadeva whom she met in August 2014, introduced her to Sasuki Thadasi, a Japanese vehicle supplier to Myanmar. Mr Thadasi had told her that funding for a power project (which Mrs. Perera was planning to launch through the Foundation) through JICA can be arranged. Then in October, she had set up the Foundation which, according to independent checks by the paper, was registered with the Registrar of Companies on October 16, 2014, as company number GA2974. JICA officials said they were unaware of these developments.
“Mr Thadasi is an investor chain member in Japan with ‘extensive’ business connections. He’s an innocent party in this transaction, as is Mr Priyankara. They are both good people,” Ms Perera says adding, however, that she was unable to reach Mr Jayadeva despite several calls to him. She has not contacted Mr Thadasi as he is mainly conversant in Japanese, a language she cannot speak.
She said this is the first time she has received money from abroad. “Before this, I didn’t know what a telegraphic transfer was.”
When the case came up on Thursday, the CID informed court that the transaction of US$ 20 million had been electronically transferred to the Foundation, under the international SWIFT process, allegedly as a JICA loan for a Rural Electrification Upgrading Project. The payment was eventually suspended.
Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya issued order extending the travel ban on the directors- Ms Perera Don Prasad Rohitha of Piliyandala, Nishantha Nalaka Walakuluarachchi of Homagama, Sanjeewa Tissa Bandara of Dehiwala and Shirani Dhammika Fernando of Dehiwala, while impounding their passports. The case will resume on June 22.
The Foundation was set up to construct low-cost houses and provide other social services.