Four Fmr. ETI Directors further remanded

THE SUSPECTS HAD NOT PAID THE RS.13BN OWED TO THE 43,000 DEPOSITORS BUT HAD BOUGHT VEHICLES WORTH RS. 33.2MN DEPOSITS OF RS. 13.6BN HAD BEEN MAINTAINED BY THESE INSTITUTIONS AS UNDISCLOSED ACCOUNTS

Four former Directors of Edirisinghe Trust Investment (ETI) who were arrested on charges of money laundering have been remanded till January 15.

The former members of the

ETI who have been remanded in connection with the incident is currently being held at the Kalutara and Welikada quarantine centres were not summoned to Court yesterday. When the case was taken up before Colombo Chief Magistrate Mohammed Mihar, Senior Deputy Solicitor General (SDSG) Haripriya Jayasundara informed that ETI and Swarnamahal had faced a serious financial crisis in 2012 but had continued to accept deposits even after the Central Bank regulation.

“By the time the Central Bank appointed a Financial Management Board in 2018 to take full control of the two institutions, ETI had liabilities of Rs 6.4 billion and Swarnamahal Rs 7.2 billion,” she said. She further explained that the total deposits of Rs. 13.6 billion had been maintained by these institutions as undisclosed accounts in a manner not subject to Central Bank regulation.

Accordingly, the SDSG Jayasundara said that these former directors had committed the offences of fraud and breach of criminal trust mentioned in the Penal Code.

She also stated that the suspects had also maintained black money which is an offence under the Money Laundering Act in maintaining accounts not disclosed to the Central Bank. “The suspects had not paid the Rs. 13 billion owed to the 43,000 depositors of the two companies but had privately bought vehicles worth Rs. 33.2 million and also spent money on their private work,” she informed the Court.

President’s Counsel Anuja Premaratne, appearing for the suspects said that although they had informed the Central Bank in 2012 that a serious financial crisis had arisen in those institutions, the Central Bank had not carried out proper regulation since then.

PC Premaratne further stated that the Central Bank had not instructed the public or depositors not to deposit money in the institutions in the question at that time.

In such a situation, PC Premaratne stated that the plaintiff had not made sufficient provisions not to grant bail to his clients and requested that they be granted bail under any conditions.

After considering the facts, Colombo Chief Magistrate Mohammed Mihar stated that the order on the bail application will be issued on January 15.