Large money transactions and real estate purchases had allegedly taken place through the bank accounts of former Secretary to the Port and Highways Ministry Ranjith Premasiri and his family
A former key Ministry secretary and a former senior SLAF officer have been linked to a major case of misuse of State funds amounting to Rs. 2.7 billion now being filed by the Financial Crime Investigations Department (FCID) before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court. The case, allegedly involving the purchase of two merchant ships by the Ceylon Shipping Corporation at an overrated price of US$ 35 million also alleges that a Chinese father-son business duo were involved in kickbacks to local businesses.
According to the report published in Daily News, Colombo, “filing a motion before the court, the Financial Crime Investigations Department (FCID) yesterday informed the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court that it has found that large money transactions and real estate purchases had allegedly taken place through the bank accounts of former Secretary to the Port and Highways Ministry Ranjith Premasiri and his family.”
The former ministry secretary is charged with misusing state funds amounting to US$ 15 million when two ships were purchased for the Shipping Corporation.
Considering a request made by the FCID, Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake granted permission to the FCID to obtain details of several bank accounts of Zhaunig Liztiin alias john and his son Yang in connection with the alleged financial fraud. The FCID further told court that, further in connection with this transaction, a Chinese national of Lotus Grove International Company had invested in commercial building construction and 10 percent of the money had been allegedly deposited to the bank account of retired SLAF Air Vice Marshal P.D.Jayanath.
According to the valuation done by a British valuation company, the two ships were estimated at US$ 20 million. However, US$ 35 million has been spent to purchase the two ships, the FCID stated in its filing.
The FCID informed the court that the Government has lost US$ 15 million (about Rs. 2.7 billion) from the transaction and the Department had initiated an investigation to find out what happened to that money after the transactions.
The investigations were carried out on a complaint lodged by Member of Parliament Nalin Bandara on 08.07.2016.
The Magistrate ordered the Financial Crime Investigation Division to investigate and report to the court.
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