Rs. 1.8 million foreign exchange confiscated

Sandasen Marasinghe

COLOMBO: Colombo High Court Judge Malani Abeywardana Ranathunga yesterday confiscated foreign exchange worth of Rs. 1.8 million in the possession of a suspect who retained the money without the permission of the Central Bank.

Kanapathipillei Thewaneshan of Chapel Lane, Wellawatta pleaded guilty for possessing various foreign currencies in July 2005. Thewaneshan also pleaded guilty for providing false details on the same day to the Exchange Control Department deliberately including falsehoods in the register where the details of foreign currencies are asked for.

Thewaneshan was indicted on 14 counts and pleaded guilty on all counts. The Court sentenced him to two years rigorous imprisonment on each count to run concurrently and suspended the sentence for five years. The Court also imposed a fine of Rs. 70,000 and another 14 years RI in default.

Thewaneshan was indicted for possessing Euro 2200 (EUR), United Kingdom Pounds 1000 (GBP), United States Dollars 1300 (USD), Hong Kong Dollars 12,000 (HKD) and buying USD 300 for Rs. 30,210 on July 27, 2005.

Thewaneshan was also indicted for including details which were factually incorrect in the register pertaining to transactions performed in foreign currencies.