• The tender for printing the stickers had been awarded to a notorious company called Madras Security Printers (MSP)

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Digging further deep into the ongoing controversy over pasting forged security stickers on liquor bottles as per the requirement of the Department of Excise, the Minister of Justice said the racket is now causing a  Rs.60 billion loss to the government.   

 Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe making a statement at the Parliament during the third reading of the budget for 2023 said prior to the introduction of the security sticker feature in 2017 the Excise Department was incurring a tax revenue loss of Rs.40 billion to the government owing to counterfeit products entering the market.   
However, the tender for printing the stickers had been awarded to a notorious company called Madras Security Printers (MSP) by the authorities even though the said company was known to be blacklisted in three countries in the world.