COLOMBO – A 45-year-old Sri Lankan businessman accused of duping hundreds of investors out of billions of rupees and absconding had been arrested along with his wife and 10-year-old son in Kodiyakarai, in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.
The New Indian Express said the businessman, identified as Ahamed Shareem Mohamed Shihab from Colombo, his wife, Fathima Farzana Markar and their 10-year-old son had been arrested shortly after they landed at Kodiyakarai on Friday (6) night.
The report quoted Inspector M. Selvaraj M, from Marine Police Station in Vedaranyam, as saying the police had arrested the family near Kodiyakarai bus Stand around midnight, and that they had provided the police with fake identification when arrested. Selvaraj had said the police later found the family was on the run after scamming people in Sri Lanka.
Reportedly, prior to the arrest the Marine Police had received information of Sri Lankan family landing near a dense casuarina plantation on the shores of Kodiyakarai on Friday night around 10:00 p.m. The family had been smuggled in a boat that set off from Jaffna.
The family was taken into police custody and interrogated, the New Indian Express reported.
Ahamed Shareem Mohamed Shihab alias Shihab Zareem and Fathima Farzana Markar are said to be founding directors of Privelth Global Private Ltd, an investment and trading company founded in February 2014, with its main office in Colombo and branch offices in Kalmunai, Eravur, Pottuvil and Nintavur in the Eastern Province. Zareem, its chairman, director and CEO, is also said to be the former Head of Finance and Administration at Amana Takaful PLC.
A large number of people alleged to have invested in Privelth Global Private Ltd, had been complaining of not getting any profits, triggering protests and hunger strikes in Sri Lanka, the report said, adding that the amount duped from investors was around Rs 12 billion. It also said the scam had been addressed in Sri Lankan Parliament in October after the victims started to request relief from the Sri Lankan government.
The Nagapattinam Marine Police are said to have handed the family to the Law and Order Police on Saturday (6) after completing the initial investigation. Police have said the family has been booked under Section 12 of Passport Act 1967 for illegal landing.
Police have also said the couple would be lodged in Central Prison in Puzhal in Chennai and the boy could be sent to a juvenile home, after being produced at a Magistrate’s Court.
-ENCL