6 September 2022 12:00 am Views - 532
By T. Farook Thajudeen
Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect named Shanthi Kanagasingham for cheating two Sri Lankan businessmen of Rs 130 million who are permanent residents of Sweden.
Counsel M. M. Zuhair PC appearing with Senior Counsel Jayantha Dias Nanayakkara for the complainants David Pradeepan Saundranayagam and Rajendran Jacob submitted that Jacob is an 80 years old Sri Lankan with permanent residence in Sweden.
The Counsel said Jacob and his business associate David had complained to the CID that they were told by the 1st suspect in January 2018 that she was a licensed gold jeweller and had legally imported a stock of gold which were allegedly kept in the safe custody of a security company in which the 2nd suspect Pradeep Kannagara is a director.
The 2nd suspect by a letter to the complainants had claimed that the 1st suspect’s gold were kept in the vaults of his company under armed escort and on payment of the balance sum of Rs 72.8 million to the 1st suspect, she would deliver 25 kg of gold direct to the complainants. But no gold was delivered after the balance Rs 72.8 million was paid by Jacob by a bank transfer to the 1st suspect’s personal account.
Counsel Zuhair submitted that the 1st suspect Shanthi Kanagasingham is absent in court and unrepresented. He said 1st suspect Shanthi is habitually absent on days when the case is called delaying the proceedings. He also said at times she surrenders to court on non-calling dates.
The CID in the course of their investigations raided the security company and found the 1st suspect’s luggage kept in the company vault had only some used garments and found no gold. They said that the two suspects had cheated the complainants for Rs 130 million.
The CID reported to Court that the 1st suspect had soon thereafter bought two brand new BMW vehicles using the cheated money. Two months later she had also bought a third BMW brand new vehicle. All three vehicles are productions of the case.
Magistrate Thilina Gamage directed the CID to file the final report in court on October 12.