Court summons Periceyl director, manager

A Colombo court has issued summons on Royle Janz, Director Periceyl Ltd, a subsidiary of Distilleries Corporation of Sri Lanka (DCSL) and Wimal Karunaratne, Manager DCSL, Seeduwa in conjunction with the Customs fraud case amidst much political pressure to stall the investigation by the Customs Department.

DCSL sources said that Karunaratne has been summoned to court next Thursday and Janz will have to face courts on September 5. “The letters of credit (LC) and other such documents which the Customs had found fault with were signed by Mr. Janz,” a DCSL source told The Sunday Times FT. He said that recently Janz was questioned by the Customs with regard to the liquor fraud case.

Customs officials, some months ago, stumbled on documents which showed DCSL was allegedly swindling the state for the last 10 years for over Rs.1500 million with under invoicing. Some industry sources said that the Customs Department is facing heavy political pressure to stop the investigations against DCSL and Periceyl.