Investors of bogus teak company diddled

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Police have blown the lid off another multi-million dollar fraud where millions of rupees of hapless investors have been embezzled by a Managing Director of a so-called teak company in Battaramulla. The core business of the company was growing teak in remote areas and offering the profits to investors after the harvest, police sources told the Sunday Observer.

"We have already received 35 complaints from those who invested in the company. However, the investors had not received any profits as promised by the Managing Director. The mastermind is alleged to have embezzled over Rs. 212,000 million of depositors' money," police said.

Teak a money-spinner

The timber racket came to light following the arrest of Sakvithi Ranasinghe a fortnight ago that created panic among the public. Last week those aggrieved rushed to the Special Crime Investigation Bureau (SCIB) of the Mirihana police station to lodge complaints against the Managing Director who ran the timber racket and allegedly duped them by promising huge profits from his venture. Many investors complained to the Officer in Charge of the SCIB Chief Inspector Jayaweera that they had been literally taken for a ride by the Managing Director. The investors complained bitterly that they had not received any profit in keeping with the agreement. They also complained that they could not withdraw their investment. The police said that they expect persons who had been duped by the company to call over at the SCIB office.

Police said that the suspect had defrauded several investors to the tune of Rs. 2 million according to the complaints received so far. "This amount can increase when more complaints pour into the SCIB," police said.

Cheated

Two Sri Lankan women expatriates domiciled in Dubai and Australia have also complained to the police with regard to their investments in the company. They complained that they had been cheated by the Managing Director.

On previous occasions, too the suspect Managing Director was arrested and produced in court in connection with several cheating offences. Several warrants too have been issued by the courts for the arrest of the suspect as he had been evading arrest for a considerable period.

SCIB sleuths on a tip off visited several places patronised by the suspect and arrested him on August 18 in the Welikada area. He was questioned at length by the police following new complaints being lodged at the Special Crime Investigation Bureau at Mirihana. It came to light that the Managing Director had run the business in a legitimate way at the very outset but subsequently had defaulted paying profits to the investors. In the course of investigations, police learned that the Managing Director had obtained money from investors by promising them land with Teak plantations in remote areas such as Tangalle, Anamaduwa, Anuradhapura and in other areas where access was difficult.

The suspect had also asked for Rs. 530,000 from each investor for 40 perches consisting of teak plantation in remote areas not easily accessible to investors. He also promised them title deeds for the land after 20 years. However, some wary investors who had visited the remote areas to inspect the land allocated to them found that it was only a myth. To their astonishment they found that no such land or Teak plantation existed. The suspect on being quizzed had told the police that only a few people had complained about such deals. The suspect had opened branches in Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Hambantota and Tangalle to lure investors. Several professionals including businessmen, doctors, lawyers and senior officers of the Armed Forces had fallen prey to the racket, police said. The suspect was produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate and remanded till September 2 until investigations were completed.

Financial scandal

The biggest financial scandal to hit the country in recent times was the Sakvithi fraud where many unsuspecting depositors fell victim to the financial scam. Newspapers ran the Sakvithi story in banner headlines during the past several weeks. The fraudster, fled the country with his family after defrauding depositors to the tune of over one billion rupees. There were 2,020 complaints against Sakvithi Ranasinghe. The dossier containing 4,100 complaints lodged at the Mirihana police station is now being investigated by the CID on a case by case basis.

A senior banker said the insatiable greed to acquire money without looking at the financial status of the institution was the prime reason why many fell for it.

Sakvithi Ranasinghe came into the limelight again following his dramatic capture by members of the civil defence committee in the Nawagamuwa area three weeks ago. He fled Sri Lanka three years ago with his family and sought refuge in South India. He then travelled to Mumbai with his family where he led a healthy life.

While in Mumbai he acquired bogus passports for himself and his family and used them to travel to China, HongKong and Malaysia. He visited those countries to explore the possibility of floating bogus finance companies just as he did here to defraud gullible persons.Being an avid casino gambler, Sakvithi Ranasinghe would have lost a substantial portion of his ill-gotten wealth on gambling. In Mumbai, he lived with his family in a shanty town.

The man who travelled in luxury vehicles and patronised five star hotels eventually lost everything he possessed. He rose from rags to riches in a short spell of time due to decert. He would have squandered money on gambling.

Sakvithi Ranasinghe carried out a propaganda campaign while in Sri Lanka that he was born to teach English.

That was the slogan he used to build his image.He floated an investment company while teaching and boasted that he paid an interest of Rs. 4,000 - 6,000 on deposits of Rs. 100,000. Gullible persons naturally fell for it.

He also carried out a construction business and was engaged in buying and selling property. Similarly, he busted large sums of money on Casinos.

His real name is Abaya Ranasinghe Mudiyanselage Chandana Weerakumara Ranasinghe alias Sakvithi Ranasinghe. His wife is Jamburagoda Gamage Kumari Anuradini. The family lived in a house at Madiwela Road, Embuldeniya.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has begun to grill A. Chandana Weerakumara alias Sakvithi Ranasinghe and his wife Anuradini to ascertain whether they had stashed the ill-gotten money of the depositors in a foreign country while they were abroad.