Seeking bribe of Rs. 125 m. three Customs bigwigs caught!

How strategy of misdirecting Company

when soliciting 125 million bribe was squashed!

Several pieces of information in connection with the huge bribe by Customs which was raided recently, is now being exposed. The complaint from the businessman supplying spare parts of vehicles to the Ceylon Transport Board in relation to the said bribe was received by the special complaints section of the 1954 Bribery Commission. It was three weeks before this.

"I am receiving calls incessantly asking a bribe from me. I don't want to do such a thing. But still this kept on continuing". Not being able to bear this continuous worry of the related Customs officers asking for this bribe concerned, it came to such a serious situation that this businessman who was the head of an overseas Company had ultimately come to a resolution to make a complaint to the Bribery Commission, he himself had mentioned. It was after the time that he had made this complaint that he had conspired with officers of the Commission to launch a sharp operation in cordoning the suspects until they were finally trapped in the bribery net.

The referred to Customs officers had solicited a bribe of Rs. 140 million if the due total amount of Rs. 1500 million was to be deducted from the Customs fees payable. Initially the transaction had been arranged to take place at a Five Star Hotel in Colombo. The officers involved in the raid on the other hand were called upon to engage in several tactics such as finding and making ready the funds or monies by the time the final date was fixed for the deal with these Customs Officers, noting down their numbers and employing the relevant technical know-how where the raid was concerned. In order to escape the bribery net the Customs officers had themselves made use of many a strategy of misdirecting and straying movements in various directions of the businessman expected to give the bribe, it was reported.

The date fixed for the deal by the said Customs officers was last Wednesday. However, later it was changed to day-before-yesterday (15). It was only at the last moment that they had finalised the date for the location in Panchikawatta where the raid really took place. The Bribery Commission now assumes that that this 'game' of bribery may have been going on for quite sometime and that there are other high-ranking individuals associated in this surreptious deals. An inquiry in search of them is underway.

The present suspects were accosted and their statements after being recorded were produced before Magistrate's Court, Colombo and later they were remanded. The Rs. 140 million which the Bribery Commission had taken from the Treasury in fact would not be deposited in courts as a production item. The said sum of monies would be presented before the magistrate and after a document relating to the money is produced to the magistrate, steps will be taken to hand over the monies back to the Treasury.