Two-year hunt ends:

King of all con men arrested

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

A. Chandana Weerakumara alias Sakvithi Ranasinghe, the man who duped hundreds of innocent depositors to the tune of over one billion rupees is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) following his arrest at Navagamuwa last Friday. Several depositors who had lost their money had lodged complaints at the CID following the sudden disappearance of Sakvithi Ranasinghe almost two years ago.

It was one of the biggest financial frauds to erupt in recent times where several important persons also fell victim to the multimillion rupee scam carried out by Sakvithi Ranasinghe. He came into the limelight shortly after he took to teaching English and was popular among students. Sakvithi Ranasinghe was able to build a financial empire shortly after floating a finance investment company named Sakvithi House at Nawala Road, Nugegoda. His modus operandi was to offer depositors a higher interest rate than any other financial institution in the country. He offered an interest of Rs. 4000 to 6000 for each deposit of Rs 100,000. The ruse paid off and he was able to amass a fortune in a short period.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nugegoda Division, Deshabandu Tennakoon told the Sunday Observer that both Sakvithi Ranasinghe and his wife were arrested when they visited the latter’s ancestral home situated at Korathota, Ambagahahandiya in the Nawagamuwa area. Sakvithi was in disguise with a heavily grown beard when a police team from Mirihana along with Police Community Service officials arrested the couple around 12 noon on Friday.

Sakvithi and his wife had been living a quiet life in a rented home at Hekitta, Wattala following his return to Sri Lanka around six months ago, SSP Tennakoon said. It was subsequently revealed that a Police Community Service man who spotted Anurandani, Sakvithi’s wife at her home at Nawagamuwa had informed SSP Tennakoon who despatched a team of police officers with OIC Emergency Unit, Inspector Jayasinghe to investigate the matter. Sakvithi and his wife had returned to Sri Lanka on false passports under different names. Thereafter he had eked out a living by engaging in small businesses.

According to the police, there were 2,020 complaints against Sakvithi Ranasinghe from depositors who could not reclaim their money. He had swindled depositors to the tune of over one billion rupees. A dossier containing the complaints of depositors had been forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department for investigation by the Mirihana police. In fact, Sakvithi’s whereabouts were not known following his sudden disappearance in 2008. The man fled to Chennai, India with his wife and children on around September 9, 2008. Police thereafter sought Interpol assistance to track him down. But the man went into hiding and could not be traced. A flood of complaints against Sakvithi Ranasinghe and his financial establishment started pouring in at the Mirihana police station from September 21, 2008. Angry depositors stormed the Special Crimes section of the Mirihana police station to lodge complaints regarding their lost deposits.

There were more than 100 complaints daily in 2008 and a special desk was set up at the Mirihana police station to accommodate those complaints.

Police Inspector arrested

Around the same time, a Police Inspector attached to the Police Communication Division, a close associate of Sakvithi Ranasinghe, was arrested following his alleged involvement in the financial fraud. He had allegedly gone to the Sakvithi head office at No. 8 Nawala Road, Nugegoda and removed a computer, a photocopying machine and several vital documents from its premises. Police later recovered the computer, the photocopy machine and the documents containing valuable information on Sakvithi’s dealings. The Police Inspector was arrested while travelling in a vehicle at Malabe on the Thalahena road. It was disclosed that his wife had deposited Rs 3.6 million in the Sakvithi company to earn a better yield.

Sakvithi was an avid casino player who had busted large sums of money on gambling. His real name however was Abhaya Ranasinghe Mudiyanselage Chandana Weerakumara Ranasinghe. His wife’s name was Jamburagoda Gamage Kumari Anurandini.

They had lived at No 175/4, Madiwela Road, Embuldeniya. Sakvithi had also carried out a construction business and had been engaged in buying and selling property. Following the disclosure of the Sakvithi fraud, the Central Bank said that 27 accounts were held by Sakvithi Ranasinghe in various banks. Of these 21 were in a single bank.

Following the Sakvithi scandal, 59 complaints were lodged at the Hungama police station from depositors who could not withdraw their deposits from a man named Piyadasa Ratnayake alias Danduwam Mudalali.

His modus operandi to lure depositors was by offering a monthly interest of seven percent. “Even some fishermen in the area had given up fishing as a livelihood as they had found it more lucrative to invest with Danduwam Mudalali,” police said.

Sakvithi Ranasinghe is a master crook in the calibre of Sri Lankan born swindler Emil Savundranayagam. Savundranayagam was better known in Britain for the crash of his fire, auto and marine insurance company which left 400,000 British motorists without insurance cover in 1966. He was arrested and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in 1968 and freed in 1974. However unlike Savundranayagam, Sakvithi Ranasinghe managed to escape and remain in hiding for two years before being apprehended.