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| Thursday, 21 August 2003 |
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by Asanga Warnakulasuriya The wealthy businessman alleged to be the mastermind behind the US $ 7 million international bank fraud was taken into custody from Kandy by the CID on Tuesday night via the very latest high-tech tracing methods SSP Nimal Kulatunga of CID told the Daily News yesterday. A special CID team under the directive of the DIG (CID) Lionel Gunatilleke took the suspect into custody who had been underground for several weeks, abandoning his luxury house in Colombo 7. The major breakthrough in the investigations was made following the Exchange Control Department informing the local bank to check the authenticity of the documents submitted by the businessman. But by then cash had been withdrawn, the SSP said. According to the SSP, it was revealed during the investigations that the alleged mastermind had drawn a sum of US $ 7 million by fraudulent means which was remitted from a reputed bank in Germany.The businessman is alleged to have forged the signatures of the Chairman and the Financial Controller of the Venezuelan company and had drawn a sum of US $ 7 million from a local bank, remitted from the bank in Germany.The local company, started in Sri Lanka as a sister company of the Venezuelan company has exported only a small quantity of Vanilla products to the parent company . The CID has launched an investigation to ascertain whether several bank officials are also involved in the racket. The Interpol units in Venezuela and Germany too have been informed of the fraud and whether there is a foreign connection. The CID officials who had searched the offices at Orugodawatte Wellampitiya had earlier recovered several vital documents pertaining to the fraud and several foreign telephone calls the suspect made to the Venezuelan company and the German bank have been also traced. |
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