Another 'Sakvithi' remanded

Piyadasa Ratnayake alias Danduwam of Gurupokuna Hungama who was taken in for questioning by the Hungama police for allegedly defrauding investors by not returning their deposits following the Sakvithi scam, was remanded till October 29 until police investigations are completed, Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ranjit Gunesekera told the Sunday Observer. He said the Hungama police had received up to 59 complaints from depositors who were unable to withdraw their deposits up to last week.

According to investigations carried out so far, his modus operandi was to pay old depositors a monthly interest of 7 per cent from monies collected from new depositors. "Even some fishermen in the area had given up fishing for their livelihood as they found it more lucrative to live with the interest paid by Danduwam," SSP Gunesekera said. Piyadasa Ratnayake was unmasked following the Sakvithi scam that erupted last month where conman Sakvithi Ranasinghe defrauded 5,000 depositors to the tune of Rs. 900 million.

Following the exposure of the biggest swindle scam, the Central Bank gave a ultimatum of 30 days for unregistered rogue finance companies to register with them. JJ