The Colombo Fraud Investigations Bureau (CFIB) is probing a complaint made by a secretary of the Turkish Embassy in Colombo alleging that a Sri Lankan had committed criminal breach of trust to the tune of Rs. 3.8 million after undertaking to renovate a building to operate the Embassy office

In his complaint, he said that since March 1, 2013 the Turkish government operated the embassy office in Colombo in Union Place. When it was looking for a permanent place for the office, it was able to find a house at Vajira Road, Colombo 4. The ownership of this particular house had been entrusted to a resident of Colombo 5 through a power of attorney.

The complainant told police that the Turkish Ambassador and the power of attorney holder reached an agreement regarding the house and thereby the ambassador agreed to pay an advance of 8500 US$ and a further 7000 US$ as additional monthly payment to the land owner for a period of three months.

The complainant further told police that the power of attorney holder was given two cheques amounting to Rs.3.8 million from a bank account belonging to the Embassy because he undertook to renovate the building within three months. The complainant alleged that both parties reached the agreement on January 16, 2014 but up to now the power of attorney holder had failed to fulfill his promise even after a lapse of several months.

Filing a facts report before Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage, the CFIB sought a Court order to obtain the bank account details pertaining to the alleged cheques transaction. Accordingly, the Magistrate issued an order directing a manager of the private bank that account details pertaining to this transaction are given to the CFIB for investigations.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)