Customs interdict four top officials over major fraud

• Director General Seevali Arukgoda told the Daily Mirror that the Internal Affairs Unit was established as part of the IMF guidelines to setup a special unit to counter corruption within the three revenue generating wings of the Ministry of Finance, which are the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka Excise and Sri Lanka Customs

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

Sri Lanka Customs yesterday interdicted four of its senior officials attached to the Central Cargo Examination Directorate for being involved in a major fraud of releasing an illicit goods container to its importer by preparing fraudulent documents, the Daily Mirror learns.   

A Senior Deputy Director, a Deputy Director, a Superintendent and an Assistant Superintendent of Customs were ordered to be interdicted with immediate effect pending two investigations by the Customs Director General Sarath Nonis.   

The major fraud came to light when the newly established Internal Affairs Unit of the Sri Lanka Customs was alerted by an informant last week that four of its officials have released an illicit goods container, which had been detained for months over a pending probe.   

Customs inside sources told the Daily Mirror that a 20 foot container arrived from India in February had been detained at the Customs Central Cargo Examination Directorate office at Grayline 2 Yard in Grandpass as it contained illegal goods.   

When the container was initially examined, the authorities found a large stock of cosmetics and chemicals, which had been imported into the country neither without the permission of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) nor without the Import and Export Controller General’s license.   

 The Customs found the illegal stock of cosmetics containing over 25 varieties of products including perfumes, lipstick, nail polish and even controversial skin whitening solutions without NMRA approval. The chemicals had contained varieties of hazardous insecticide and pesticide, which had not been tested in local laboratories.   

The illegal container, which had been lying at the Grayline 2 Yard for almost five months pending investigations had suddenly vanished on July 12th and the Customs Internal Affairs Unit had received information early this week about the major fraud.   

The Customs had immediately commenced a probe and found that the container had been released to its importer, a trader from Negombo, by following the regular procedure to release an ordinary container from a cargo yard with the relevant documentation.   

However, a thorough inquiry into the matter had revealed that the aforesaid officials who were in charge of the illegal container had ‘torn’ the original inventories and had prepared fraudulent documents to release the goods out of the yard.   

When contacted, Customs Spokesperson Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda told the Daily Mirror that the Internal Affairs Unit was established as part of the IMF guidelines to setup a special unit to counter corruption within the three revenue generating wings of the Ministry of Finance, which are the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka Excise and Sri Lanka Customs.   

He said the Customs was the first to set up the Internal Affairs Unit out of the three state departments, which was established on July 1st and this was its first case.   

Statements had been recorded from all the four officials during the preliminary investigation and they had been interdicted pending two special probes, one under the Customs Ordinance and the other under the Establishment Code of the Public Service Commission.   

The CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) value of the container had been estimated at Rs.800, 000 although the exact value of the goods within the container is yet to be determined, the Spokesperson said.   
The Customs have taken the container back into their custody and the case has been reported to the Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya for further inquiries.