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Lankan fruit exporter sentenced, fined for failure to pay seller
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
A Lankan businessman who had evaded payment amounting to more than USD 5 million for two container-loads of fruits he had imported from the US has been sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court.
In addition to the prison sentence, High Court Judge Nadee Aparna Suwandurugoda ordered the accused to pay compensation amounting to Rs 15 million to the US exporter.
The accused, Rennasami Prem Kumar, had been a fruit wholesaler based in Pettah. He had been a longtime customer of the US based exporter, Nitin Rajkumar, a US citizen of Indian origin. Mr Rajkumar, who is based in California, had been exporting fruits such as grapes and apples to various countries.
The accused had purchased goods from Mr Rajkumar on earlier occasions and had duly paid for them. Their arrangement, based on mutual trust, was to send the goods to Sri Lanka first, upon which the accused would make the payment for them. However, the accused had evaded payment for the last two container-loads of fruits that the US-based exporter had sent to him.
During the high court trial, Mr Rajkumar also gave evidence via Zoom from the Sri Lanka Consul General’s Office in Los Angeles.
Addressing court after the accused was found guilty, Senior State Counsel Oswald Perera, who led the prosecution, expressed his appreciation to the witness for giving evidence from the US so that the case could be brought to a conclusion. He further pointed out that such dishonest and fraudulent acts by Lankans engaged in international trade also serves to discourage foreign investment in the country.
Attorney-at-law Mohamed Azkar appeared for the accused.
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