Sri Lanka probing US$1bn outflow for unreceived goods since 2023 says President
COLOMBO– Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said investigations are underway for money worth around US$ 1 billion that was sent out of the country illicitly since 2023 as advance for imports.
The money was paid via Telegraphic Transfers (TT), but no corresponding goods arrived to the country in return, the president told Parliament on Thursday (26), questioning, “Who can take around Rs 300 billion out of the country? No ordinary person or businessman can move such vast sums of money. However, they have taken it out.”
He said investigations into money earned from drugs, corruption, and organized crime, have allegedly revealed certain bank branches and bank managers to be involved in these transactions. “The same illegal activities have continued in other banks as well with those managers moving to other banks,” Dissanayake said.
Trade analysts have cited over-invoicing, fictitious shipments with no physical goods returned, and multiple invoicing with false descriptions as methods used to move money out of the country under the guise of imports.
The latest revelation by the President comes after a raft of scams including a 13.2-billion-rupee fraud involving the listed private lender National Development Bank and as a US$ 2.5 million scam siphoned from the finance ministry.
-economynext.com
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.