Wariyapola Magistrate Rasika Mallawaarachchi yesterday (27) ordered the remand of owner of Eyon Lanka Investment and Film Production Financial Company Attapattu Mudiyanselage Dhammika Attapattu over defrauding 8,000 people of money running into Rs 10 billion by promising higher interest, till November 1.
The suspected businessman, who is said to have been in hiding for almost two years after defrauding people of money, was arrested at a house located in Kandy by the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) and produced before the Wariyapola Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The Police Media Spokesperson’s Office stated that this person had been the director and shareholder of this financial institution. The suspect was arrested on Thursday (26) by the officers of the Financial and Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the CID. They also stated that Rs. 9,900 million had been defrauded by this person.
The Police Media Spokesperson’s Office stated further that charges of criminal misappropriation of money and breach of trust have been levelled against this person and he has also laundered the money thus earned.
Claiming to pay a high rate of interest, the suspected businessman had been operating the relevant financial institution at his home in Hanhamuna and taken cash deposits of various amounts ranging from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 10 million and then committed this large-scale financial fraud by not returning the interest and money due for those deposits to the customers.
Among the people who lost money due to his scam are politicians, high officials of the police and the Tri-forces as well as businessmen and top officers who held various positions in the Government. It is said that people who had accumulated money in various corrupt transactions are among those who have lost money by investing in this financial institution.
The Central Bank has imposed a ban on his illegal money transactions and published public notices banning those transactions in the newspapers. A financial fraud case has also been filed against him in the Colombo High Court and it is currently being heard without the suspect’s attendance.
Most of the people who lost their money due to his financial fraud are currently serving and retired members of the Security Forces and they have been on a hunger strike for over two months in front of a housing complex owned by him, near the Kurunegala Lake. They had to give up the fast due to the Covid pandemic that occurred at that time.
When journalists warned the public through the media not to get caught in this financial fraud, various threats were made to the journalists from the depositors of this institution.
The officers of the CID informed the court that he had left his Kurunegala residence and moved to Kandy along with his wife and children in response to protests from customers and was secretly living in a house in that area.
A person named Nihal Gunawardena, who is considered to have been the second in command of this financial institution, was also arrested a few days ago. It is said that this person is also a sergeant who had deserted the Army. The officers said that an investigation was conducted based on the data from the mobile phone he had used and the main suspect was arrested at a house near an international school in Kandy.
The officials of the CID informed the court that they have recorded the statements of over 75 people who had been defrauded by this financial institution.
The Magistrate also issued a court order to the relevant departments prohibiting the sale of 11 lands worth Rs. 100 million found in the possession of the two suspects.
The Magistrate issued an order to the CID and told them to look into the assets bought in different names and in the names of different people and report the facts to the court on the next court date.
Inspector of Police Jayasundara, Officer-In-Charge of the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit of the CID, Police Constables Karunathilaka Nimesh Chandraratne Ishan and Sub-Inspector Madhushanka and Rathnayake submitted the facts to the court.
A large number of depositors had gathered near the court when they heard that the scammer had been arrested. A woman who had deposited Rs. 2.5 million and lost the money said that she sold her land and deposited the money after getting to know through a friend that higher interest was being.
“At first we were paid six percent interest monthly. Then when Covid pandemic started, we were paid only three percent that month. After that, we did not receive anything. We were shown a certificate from the Central Bank, that is why we deposited the money with confidence,” she added.
(dailynews.lk)
