Colombo, Nov 08 (Daily Mirror) - Investigations into the recovery of an illegally assembled, unregistered luxury car from the home of former State Minister Lohan Ratwatte’s wife in Mirihana have revealed that Ratwatte had been using the vehicle since 2020 with a fake number plate.

DIG Ruwan Gunasekera, who heads the Police Legal Division said yesterday that Lohan Ratwatte had attempted to mislead the police during the initial investigations by claiming that the car had been brought to the residence by his late Coordinating Secretary, who recently died by suicide in Kandy.

However, a series of videos and documents uncovered during the investigation showed that Ratwatte had been using the car for several years.

Further investigations also revealed that the vehicle had a fake chassis number.

Lohan Ratwatte was arrested on October 31 in Kandy after discovering the unregistered vehicle at his wife’s residence in Mirihana, Nugegoda. His wife, Shashi Prabha Ratwatte was later arrested and remanded till November 7.

The car, found without a number plate, was recovered after a tip-off to the Mirihana Police.

When the suspects were produced in the Nugegoda Magistrate’s Court yesterday, they were remanded further until November 18.

DIG Gunasekera also revealed that in addition to charges under the Motor Traffic Act and Criminal Procedure Act, the police have launched an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This is due to potential violations under the Customs Ordinance Act related to the illegal vehicle.

The DIG said that once the police investigation is concluded, the vehicle will be handed over to Customs for their investigation.