Local firm says Harry J didn’t pay them

On the back of the Customs probe into business tycoon Harry Jayawardena’s Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka’s ((DCSL) liquor imports, a company importing glass bottles has been forced out of business due to DCSL defaulting on payments.

Censtar (Pvt) Ltd, a company importing glass bottles is suing DCSL for nearly Rs.18 million, having filed a petition in the Colombo High Court late last year.

In its petition, Censtar says it struck a deal with DCSL in March 2004 to provide empty glass bottles which they import from a Malaysian firm called J.G. Containers. The company supplied five consignments successfully for which they got paid, but despite repeated reminders, DCSL did not pay for the sixth consignment worth nearly Rs.18 million. This was inspite of written confirmation by DCSL in September 2004 to Censtar that DCSL owes such an amount to the company.

Censtar says the defendant DCSL is obliged to pay them their dues from August and September 2004.

So far there have been two hearings of the petition with the next hearing scheduled for next month.