News
Vehicle import scam: Govt. awaits Fin. Ministry report
View(s):By Damith Wickramasekara
The government is awaiting a report by the Finance Ministry on an investigation regarding an alleged multibillion-rupee vehicle import scam.
Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said he expected the Finance Ministry to submit its report on the probe within two weeks.
He was responding to queries regarding an alleged scam involving the illegal import of vehicles despite the import ban imposed in 2020. There were initial reports that some 5,000 vehicles had been illegally imported and registered using fraudulent methods, depriving the government of several billion rupees in tax revenue.
Mr. Siyambalapitiya claimed that the much-reported incident where a “Mini Cooper” car had been illegally imported to the country and registered fraudulently actually happened in 2015, though it was only recently that the Bribery Commission brought the case to court. The vehicle had been registered as a three-wheeler at the Department of Motor Traffic.
Investigations conducted so far have not uncovered any details of a mass-scale racket over the illegal import of vehicles, State Minister Siyambalapitiya said.
He said the authorities had looked into the import of 5,000 vehicles from the period in question but that more than 4,000 of those vehicles had been imported legally for use by the police. Investigations were continuing into the other vehicles, but no major issues had been uncovered thus far other than the fraud involving the single Mini Cooper, he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) has begun its own internal inquiry regarding allegations of massive vehicle fraud, Commissioner General Nishantha Weerasinghe told the Sunday Times.
“So far, we have not found any evidence that vehicles have been registered in this manner, and no officers have been interdicted,” he said.
Mr. Weerasinghe added that the DMT would be submitting a detailed report on its own investigation to the Finance Ministry in about a week’s time.
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