FCID probe on tainted oil hedging deal completed
View(s):The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) of the Police has completed an investigation on the corruption-filled oil hedging deal which caused losses totalling millions of dollars to the Sri Lankan Government, the Business Times reliably understands. The probe came on a complaint filed by Tennekone Rusiripala, a retired senior banker and social activist. Several former officials of the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), the bank that figured prominently in the deal that cost the country huge losses, were among those whose statements were recorded. Two senior bankers, working at the time in senior management at the People’s Bank, and now heading two local banks, were also asked to make statements in the probe.
The FCID is now awaiting instructions from the Attorney General’s Department to proceed with the next move. In the meantime, Mr. Rusiripala, asked to comment on the matter, said that while he was digging into old files pertaining to the oil hedging fiasco which was first exposed by the Sunday Times eight years ago, had discovered another case where the SCB allegedly owes the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) a total of over Rs. 2 billion in taxes from debit taxes between 2004 and 2009. The dispute has been going on since 2010 with the bank contesting the amount. On August 2011, the bank filed a writ of certiorari and prohibition in the Supreme Court restraining the IRD from collecting the amount as claimed by the IRD. The case is pending. “The government should recover the money fast as state revenues are very low at the moment,” Mr. Rusiripala said.