Excise Dept. under fire over liquor licence scandal
The Excise Department is facing serious allegations of corruption, particularly in the secretive issuance of liquor licences and the use of counterfeit security stickers, despite posting record revenues of Rs. 152 billion in the first nine months of this year, new administration sources said.
Excise Commissioner General M.J. Gunasiri has denied these allegations, stating that the department collected Rs. 132.7 billion in taxes by August 22, compared to Rs. 106.5 billion in the same period last year.
The government has set a target of Rs. 232 billion for 2024, marking a 29.6 per cent increase from the Rs. 179 billion collected last year.
Despite the impressive financial figures, accusations are mounting that the current Excise Commissioner General has been secretly issuing liquor licences beyond the legal limit, as industry sources have claimed.
These concerns led to a group of liquor shop owners to file petitions, resulting in the Supreme Court issuing an interim injunction to halt the issuance of new licences.
However, allegations persist that licences continued to be issued despite the court order. The Supreme Court has extended its injunction and granted leave to hear four petitions from wine shop owners challenging the issuance of licences in violation of excise regulations.
The trial, which will include the former Minister of Finance and the Commissioner General of Excise as respondents, is scheduled for February 6, 2025.
The new administration, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has vowed to investigate these allegations, including the fake security sticker scandal.
Wasantha Samarasinghe, a member of the National People’s Power Executive Committee, said that some Excise officials accepted bribes of up to Rs. 2 million for liquor licences during the previous government.
He further alleged that the Commissioner General had issued 500 new licences, including 70 to businessman Arjun Aloysius, who paid around Rs. 30 million per licence. Some officials who cooperated in these activities were also reportedly rewarded with liquor licences.
Mr. Gunasiri, however, refuted these claims, stating that since May 2023, only 172 licences were issued as per government policy, generating Rs. 2.2 billion in revenue. He added that companies involved have agreed to settle their outstanding tax dues for 2023 and 2024 by November 30.
It has also been revealed that some businessmen who paid as much as Rs. 20-30 million for these licences from politicians in the Kandy District were affected when the new government decided to cancel their licences.
Meanwhile, the Department of Excise has been embroiled in a large-scale fraud involving counterfeit liquor stickers, which has cost the government billions in tax revenue. According to former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, the annual loss from this scam is estimated at Rs. 60 billion, with the Mendis Company, owned by Arjun Aloysius, responsible for Rs. 440 million in lost taxes.
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