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CID
investigates Sri Lanka's biggest financial fraud Several Sri
Lankans including a garment factory owner and his counterparts in
Germany and Venezuela are alleged to have conspired in this fraudulent
deal. According to
CID sources a Sri Lankan garment factory owner whose head office
is located in Wellampitiya had registered a ghost company with the
Registrar of Companies declaring that it is a sister company of
a reputed insurance company in Venezuela. The garment factory owner had allegedly forged the signatures of the Chairman and Financial Controller of a Venezuelan insurance company to obtain the registration. In stage two
of this fraud the garment factory owner had opened an account for
the ghost company in a private bank in Sri Lanka. After the groundwork
for the fraud was laid the garment factory owner with the aid of
his accountant had prepared a set of false documents requesting
a German bank connected to the Venezuelan insurance company to transfer
seven million US Dollars to the garment factory owner's account
in a Sri Lankan private bank, held in the name of the ghost company
registered as a sister company of the Venezuelan insurance company. These documents
being craftily prepared and identical to original documents, the
German bank had transferred the money to the account in Sri Lanka.
The garment factory owner had then taken steps to withdraw the money
in Sri Lanka stating that the Venezuelan company had paid him this
money for the export of a consignment of vanilla. The garment
factory owner had sought the Exchange Controller's approval to withdraw
the seven million US dollars in Sri Lankan currency. Before authorising
the release of funds the Central Bank officials had instructed the
private bank to check the authenticity of the documents presented
for the withdrawal of funds and to how this person had received
such a large sum of money. The private
bank had released 400 million rupees to the garment factory owner
without proper scrutiny of export documents ascertaining whether
he had in fact exported vanilla to Venezuela to the value of 700
million rupees. Central bank
feeling suspicious about this transaction had questioned the private
bank about the transaction. Then the private bank had in turn conveyed
their suspicions to the German bank, which initially transferred
the money to Sri Lanka. The Venezuelan insurance company had then
come to hear about the loss of their funds and a special representative
from the company had arrived in Sri Lanka and lodged a complaint
with the CID about two months back. CID investigators
have arrested the accountant of the garment factory who is alleged
to have prepared the forged documents and his statements has been
recorded. When the CID,
raided the head office of the garment factory in Wellampitiya they
had unearthed several documents connecting the owner with the fraudulent
financial transaction. "CID investigations
have also revealed that this person has been involved in a similar
fraud about two years ago. He has planned this fraud and started
acting on it since the beginning of this year", the CID officer
added. The Sunday
Times learns that the way in which the Sri Lankan bank had acted
was also suspicious because, though the garment factory owner had
told the bank he had been paid the 700 million rupees by the Venezuelan
company for exporting vanilla, the total value of vanilla exported
by Sri Lanka during the past year was nowhere near 700 million rupees
but only 700 kilograms. Investigators are trying to figure out whether
the garment factory owner's foreign counterparts had any underhand
dealings with employees of the German bank or the Venezuelan company
in helping in the seven million US dollar transfer to Sri Lanka. A senior official
from the CID told The Sunday Times that special teams have been
detailed to detect the whereabouts of the main culprit. "Interpol assistance is also sought to crack down on all his international associates and the case has been referred to the Attorney General as well", he said. Further investigations are presently underway by the CID under the directions of the DIG CID Mr. Lionel Gunetilake, Director CID Mr. Sisira Mendis (SSP) and the Director of the Fraud Investigation unit of the CID Mr. Nimal Kulatunge (SSP). Sri
Lankan gang in credit card fraud This is the
latest in a continuing saga of crimes committed by some Sri Lankan
Tamils that has London's Scotland Yard worried about the extent
to which the community is involved in serious crime. In June, Scotland
Yard warned that crimes involving Tamils appeared to be spreading
across London. The warning
came after two youths were killed presumably by the same gang who
came by car and attacked the victims in two separate incidents. These murders
in June occurred the day after five Sri Lankans were sentenced to
life for the murder of two Tamils after one of the longest trials
at London's Old Bailey. Last week's
raid by police netted a five-person gang that included a husband
and wife, all in their 30s for allegedly using counterfeit credit
cards or cloned credit cards to break into 98 bank accounts draining
them of cash over a four-month period. "We believe
we have disrupted a highly-organised team of individuals who were
deceiving banks of vast quantities of money," Detective Inspector
Bob Gurr was quoted as saying. "We are
determined to make life impossible for this type of criminal,"
he added. The Sri Lankans
were arrested at four addresses in the Colindale, Edgware and Wembley
areas in north-west London, areas inhabited or frequented by members
of the Tamil community. In a major
raid officers from the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU)
acting on information from banks also seized computers, around 100
fake credit cards, letters and bank accounts. Police raided
several fast food outlets in the north-west London areas from which
the computers and fake cards were seized. The five persons
have been released on police bail for eight weeks. It is well
known even to the police here that in the heyday of LTTE operations
in Britain, huge financial frauds were committed by Tigers and their
sympathisers to collect money for the movement. Tigers financiers
often loaned money to incoming Tamil asylum seekers or refugees
to buy or operate businesses in return for a percentage of the profits
and information on credit cards and personal details of individuals
that could be useful later. In other cases,
Tiger supporters were installed as managers or employees in LTTE-owned
businesses such as petrol filling stations which also had grocery
or news agents attached to them. They were thus
in an ideal position to get credit card information of customers
and pass this on to LTTE operatives who made fake credit cards or
cloned them like they used to turn out fake passports and visas. Although Britain
has said it has banned the LTTE and other terrorist organisations
and stopped their fund-raising under United Nations treaties and
British laws, it is well known here that the LTTE still operates
in Britain cocking a snook at the British Home Office and the security
services. The Tamil Cricket
Festival in Kent held at the end of last month was said to be another
occasion on which the LTTE made a presence. Once again the sick
man of the LTTE, Balasingham was the chief guest. The local police
were prominent on the occasion searching vehicles heading for the
grounds and body searching men. Within the
grounds itself, security was in charge of persons dressed in blue
uniforms similar to the ones worn by LTTE police in northern Sri
Lanka. Despite the
presence of the official and unofficial police, a fight broke out
at the butt end of the cricket festival. The reason for the fisticuffs
is not known. "What
aiyah, without a fight our gatherings are not complete no. Last
time there was a church festival. After that some of the people
went to the nearby beach. There a fight started and one person was
stabbed. Some people are sure to spoil the fun for everybody." The police had made some arrests. |
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