Sakvithi scam

Corrupt officials still at large !

Following the biggest financial fraud reported in recent times IGP, Jayantha Wickramaratna ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take over the investigation into the Sakvithi fraud where several innocent depositors were duped by a conman named Sakvithi Ranasinghe.

The master swindler, fled the country with his family after defrauding depositors to the tune of over Rs. 1 billion. There were 2020 complaints against Sakvithi Ranasinghe from depositors. The Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ranjith Gunesekera told the Sunday Observer that the dossier containing 4100 complaints of depositors was forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department by the Mirihana Police.

"Although Sakvithi Ranasinghe's whereabouts are not known, we suspect that he had fled to another country from Chennai. We have sought Interpol assistance to track him down so that he can be brought before courts, "SSP Gunesekera said. Ranasinghe fled to Chennai on September 9 boarding a flight from the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with his wife and child when things were hotting up against him.

Meanwhile the Police Inspector, a close associate of Sakvithi Ranasinghe who was attached to the Police Communication Division was arrested last week. It was revealed that the Police Inspector's wife had deposited a sum of Rs. 3.6 million in the Sakvithi company to earn a better yield. Following the disappearance of Ranasinghe, the Police Inspector had walked into the Sakvithi Head office located at No. 8, Nawala Road, Nugegoda and had removed a computer, a photo copying machine and several documents. The police, however, recovered the computer, photocopy machine and other relevant documents containing valuable data on Sakvithi dealings. While the Police Inspector was on the wanted list of the Mirihana police in connection with Sakvithi dealings, he managed to disappear all of a sudden. After absconding for a while, he was arrested later by a special police team while travelling in a vehicle at Malabe on Thalahena Road. After questioning him, police recovered two more vehicles of the Sakvithi company parked at his Malabe residence. The suspect inspector also confessed that he owned several lands at Ratnapura in the gem mining zone.

The Police Inspector was detained under emergency regulations for further questioning. Meanwhile, the six suspects who were remanded earlier in connection with the Sakvithi scam have been granted bail by courts last week. The case will be taken up again on October 26 at the Gangodawila Magistrate's courts. The court imposed the following conditions on the accused enlarged on bail. Each accused was ordered cash bail of Rs. 10,000 and surety bail of Rs. 1,000,000. The accused are also prohibited from travelling abroad and are debarred from changing their places of residence. They were ordered to surrender to the CID and assist them in the ongoing investigations. They were ordered to report to the Mirihana Police Station every Sunday.

However, it is ironic that Sakvithi Ranasinghe was unmasked following his sudden departure from Sri Lanka to Chennai-India on September 9. Judging from the events that followed it is crystal clear that the authorities had been dragging their feet right along. How come that institutions responsible for monitoring crooked financial deals failed to act on time? As a matter of fact the blame cannot be attributed to one particular institution or a department. Several government departments and institutions have to take the rap for it. How did they allow such crooked men to thrive for long without their knowledge. The gigantic fraud perpetrated by Sakvithi Ranasinghe was exposed only after the horse bolted away from its stable. Were the authorities in a deep slumber until he got away scot free? Why did they turn a blind eye for that long? Does that imply that authorities worked hand in glove with the crooked man and was in his payroll. It is time that the Bribery Commissioner's Department launched a parallel investigation to determine, whether any State officials were involved with the Sakvithi racket.

The Bribery Commissioner's Department should take legal action against corrupt State officials if there were any. Estimates show that the total amount of money robbed by Sakvithi Ranasinghe amounted to a staggering amount of Rs. 1.5 billion. More than 2020 depositors who were duped had lodged complaints at the Mirihana Police Station.

Sakvithi Ranasinghe is a master crook in the calibre of swindler Emil Savundranayagam, a Sri Lankan born swindler and fraudster. Savundranayagam is best 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. Unlike Savundranayagam, Sakvithi Ranasinghe, however, managed to escape the dragnet in the nick of time when things were hotting up a bit.

Ranasinghe carried out propaganda that he was a teacher. While conducting English classes, he floated an investment company and boasted that an interest of Rs. 4,000 to 6,000 would be paid for every deposit of Rs. 100,000. Naturally, gullible persons were lured into his trap.

He also carried out a construction business and was engaged in buying and selling property. Sakvithi Ranasinghe was an avid casino player who busted large sums of money on gambling. His real name however appears as Abaya Ranasinghe Mudiyanselage Chandana Weerakumara Ranasinghe with Sakvithi Ranasinghe an alias. His wife is Jamburagoda Gamage Kumari Anurandini. They had lived at No. 175/4, Madiwela Road, Embuldeniya.

Following the disclosure of the Sakvithi fraud, the Governor of the Central Bank, Nivard Cabraal said at a media briefing that of the 27 accounts held by Sakvithi Ranasinghe in various banks, 21 of them were in one single bank. He said during the past two years the Central Bank had spent a colossal sum of money educating the public not to invest money in unregistered financial institutions. Following the upheaval at Sakvithi jittery investors flocked to the residence of Piyadasa Ratnayake alias "Danduwam" at Gurupokuna Hungama to claim their deposits, a fortnight ago.

The Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ranjit Gunesekera said Hungama Police had received 59 complaints from depositors who were unable to withdraw their deposits. The modus operandi of Danduwam was to lure new depositors by paying them a monthly interest as high as 7 percent. With first investments flowing into his kitty he was able to service his old depositors.

"Even some fishermen in the area had given up fishing as a livelihood as they found it more lucrative to live on interest paid by Danduwam, SSP Gunesekera said. Piyadasa Ratnayake alias "Danduwam" was arrested by the Hungama Police last week after several complaints started flooding his failure to return depositors' money. He was produced before court and remanded till October 29.n