Millions worth land scam exposed:

Corrupt LRC officials in the net

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Under the cover of quoting President Mahinda Rajapaksa's name, corrupt government officials have whisked away millions of rupees over a fake land deal.

A project is deemed successful if billions worth of foreign currency flows into the country and this was envisaged by a group of businessmen. This would have been so if the deal was a true one. All the efforts made by them went down the drain for these local entrepreneurs backed by a multi-national Australian enterprise because of a state official's greed for money.

A senior Land Reform Commission officer and his Field Officer were apprehended by police last week for taking millions of rupees from a group of businessmen who tried to buy land to be invested in a large scale commercial venture leading to a BOI project.

On May 19, IGP N. K . Illangakoon received a written complaint on his personal facsimile from a group of entrepreneurs about a senior land officer who had taken Rs.3.6 million promising a large plot of land to initiate a BOI project. The officer had promised to sell a land belonging to the Kandy Vishnu Devale which comes directly under the purview of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Since the lands belong to sacred places are monitored and come under the jurisdiction of the Land Reform Commission of Sri Lanka, which is directly under the purview of the President, the culprit had promised the businessmen to get the said land okayed by President Rajapaksa and demanded a sum of three million to work out the deal in favour of the buyers.

The businessmen who trusted the senior land officer had paid the amount of money required. But quickly realised that they had been swindled by a fraudster when the deal was not finalised and they never got their money back.

IGP Illangakoon understanding the gravity of the case decided to hand it over to the Police Special Investigation Unit II (SIU II) at Malalasekara Mawatha which comprises a team of skilled and experienced detectives who have specialised in solving this type of commercial fraud.

SIU II is headed by an Assistant Superintendent of Police who is only answerable to the IGP. ASP D D V Pathirana was ordered to initiate an immediate investigation into the complaint since he had quoted the President.

With the instructions received from ASP Pathirana, Officer in Charge of SIU II Sub Inspector Ajith Senanayake and his team of experts began recording statements from the aggrieved party who lodged the complaint as a first measure. The police heard a shocking story of how a legitimate group of businessmen were tricked and robbed by a responsible government officer who even dragged the country's first citizen's name to commit the crime.

In September 2011 three entrepreneurs from Moratuwa commenced a large scale business to cultivate maize and export the harvest to Australia for various purposes.

They were backed by a leading Australian company who had an interest in purchasing maize from Sri Lanka.

Since the sound environmental and climatic conditions of Sri Lanka as well as the abundant land enriched with fertile soil was ideal for large scale cultivation of maize, where labour cost is also considerably low compared to other countries, these businessmen decided to purchase the land and carry out their endeavour.

The entrepreneurs planned to initiate the business as a BOI project to cultivate maize in the country and export it overseas. To begin this they needed fertile land and had begun looking for a block of land with several hundred acres. When they were on the land hunt they come across an individual by the name of Chaminda Rodrigo who claimed to be working at the LRC sometime ago. Rodrigo advised the businessmen to meet an old friend of his who would help them. They were then introduced to a person named Namal Nakandala, the LRC Director of Kurunegala and Trincomalee Districts.

The group met the LRC Director at his office at the LRC Kurunegala District branch office.

Having understood the businessmen's requirement Nakandala made a proposal to buy a land belonging to the Vishnu Devale in Kandy.

He promised them to grant 150 acres of the land belonging to the sacred site which comes under the purview of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. They were also told by the land officer that a payment had to be made to get things done in a smooth manner, apart from the price they had to pay for the land itself. They did not bat an eyelid and believed every word the officer uttered. They thought it worthwhile to pay him the amount he requested as they thought they would reap the harvest in the long term.

All lands inherited by religious institutions countrywide were taken over by the government under tough Land Reform Laws set up under the Sirimavo Bandaranaike regime about fifty years ago.

These lands were however returned to the respective religious places on an order made by President Rajapaksa in July, 2009 following a request made by the caretakers and Basnayake Nilames of those sacred places. The request was made as the lands could be utilised to earn an income for the maintenance of the religious places yet the rights of sale or transfer remains with the LRC.

The businessmen delighted with this great opportunity agreed to make a field visit to see a plot of land in the Melsiripura area. The group was taken in a vehicle provided by Nakandala accompanied by his Field Officer Niroshan Silva. The group was shown a large coconut land in Melsiripura but they were not even allowed to get out of the vehicle.

The Field Officer told the businessmen that if they get out of the vehicle the people in the area will notice that outsiders had come to purchase the land and cause trouble. Satisfied by the looks of it the businessmen had expressed their consent to purchase the land.

Two days after that they received a telephone call from Nakalanda asking to make a payment of Rs.2.4 million as advance to purchase the land. The businessmen who were short of several hundred thousand rupees agreed to pay Rs.1.8 million which they handed over to Nakalanda in person at his office in Kurunegala. They were asked to make the balance payment of Rs.600, 000 to Niroshan Silva's account at the Bank of Ceylon. The payment was made within three days.

During one of these meetings Nakandala introduced himself to the businessmen as a retired Inspector of the Police Special Task Force. And that he was well experienced in handling weapons and related activities.

However, after another couple of weeks Nakandala contacted the businessmen again asking to make a payment of Rs.750, 000 to be made to Dalada Maligawa for certain formalities related to a sale and transfer of land belonging to one of its four main Devalas. After paying this amount within days they were again asked to pay another Rs.500, 000 for legal matters. The businessmen who were assured of the genuineness of this deal because of the designation earlier held by Nakandala and the President was in charge of these sacred lands as well as having seen the land themselves, they never had any doubts that they were being outsmarted by a crook. Weeks after making the staggering payment amounting to Rs.3.6 million to the land officer the entrepreneurs were beginning to get worried over the deal as there was no response from the other party. Numerous telephone calls went unanswered and several visits made to the LRC office in Kurunegala were in vain as the land officer had given the slip and they were now distressed.

In February, 2012 the group decided to send an individual by the name Sanjeewa Soyza to the LRC office in Kurunegala to meet Nakandala, who was unknown to the latter.

When he got the opportunity to meet the Director LRC he was threatened with death not to come there ever again asking for the money given by the businessmen. Nakandala who pulled a pistol out of his table drawer threatened the man with the gun pointed to his face and asked to vanish from the scene and forget about the Rs.3.6 million. Soyza was also threatened by another gang who arrived at the LRC office premises in a trishaw armed with a revolver. In fear of his life he retreated and conveyed the message to those who sent him. With this development the legitimate businessmen become demoralised and out of fear they decide to drop the deal and bear the loss they had incurred. Two years had passed and the culprits thought that the deal was forgotten and were quite happy with their 'achievement' when suddenly like a bolt from the blue they were summoned to Police headquarters .

The victims waited for over two years in silence without informing any law enforcement authorities about it and finally decided to inform the IGP personally about the grave injustice that had befallen them. The SIU II officials acting on the statements given by the businessmen traced the land Director and his Field Officer who were taken into custody on August 4 in Kurunegala. Although at first he denied any knowledge about the dirty deal, under intense interrogation Nakalanda admitted that he masterminded with his assistant two years ago. The bank statements obtained by the detectives proved that the money deposited by the businessmen had immediately been withdrawn by the account holder.

Sergeant Thusitha Kumara of the SIU II who conducted the inquiry into the case told the Sunday Observer that they found that the suspect had used the President's name to win confidence of the businessmen and to steal the money.

Director Nakandala and his subordinate Niroshan were produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Court on August 5 and since the case came under the purview of the Kurunegala Magistrate, the duo were produced before the Kurunegala Magistrate on the following day and remanded until August 18.

Surprisingly Nakandala had promised to pay the entire Rs.3.6 million he swindled from the businessmen on the next court date. However, he had attempted to pay the amount on the day he was first produced in courts proving yet another fact that he had money at his disposal. Police are making further investigations and have found that Nakandala had carried out two similar scams with a businessman in Gampaha and another in Pannala. The detectives have launched separate inquiries into them as well.

SIU II Malalasekara Mawatha lead by ASP D D Pathirana, OIC SI Ajith Senanayake, Police Sergeants Thusitha Kumara (33167), Sarathchandra (22623), Gunasekara (25322), Police Constables Jagath (50222), Ruwan (5793), Arunakumara (32693) and Police Sergeant Driver Silva (9146) took part in the investigations.

ASP Pathirana requested the public to be careful when dealing with strangers who promise the stars quoting higher ups in the country.