The 70 million fine, puppies and a new story about Dudley's Rolls Royce car

The Sri Lanka Customs Department has focused special attention on the reporting to the media regarding the imposition of a massive fine of 70 million rupees concerning a Rolls Royce model car recently imported to Sri Lanka.

Issuing a statement regarding this, Customs Director Chandana Punchihewa has stated that advice has been sought from the Attorney General regarding the legal possibility of providing information related to violations of customs laws to external parties. The Customs Department further states that until the relevant legal advice is received from the Attorney General's Department, official information regarding these fine impositions and investigations cannot be released to the media.

As reported quoting government sources, this fine has been imposed due to the failure to correctly declare the true details of the relevant imported Rolls Royce car. Although it was declared as a standard Rolls Royce Phantom model with a value (including tax) of 417,000 British Pounds during importation, Customs inspection revealed that it is a car of higher value and size than that.

Customs officials have confirmed that this car brought into the country is a Rolls Royce Phantom Auto EWB (Extended Wheelbase), a special model with a long wheelbase, and its true value including tax is approximately 479,000 British Pounds. Due to this discrepancy in value and model, a fine of 70 million rupees has been imposed, and it is reported that the importer has had to pay a total amount of 370 million rupees, including this fine, to Customs.

A conversation arose on social media due to the purchase of this car by prominent businessman Mr. Dudley Sirisena, and he has also made a clarification regarding the Customs fine. He states that he did not import this vehicle directly, but purchased a vehicle that was cleared from Customs by an importer. Mr. Dudley Sirisena has confirmed via his Facebook account that the importer paid the fine relevant to the offense of not correctly stating the vehicle model, and subsequently, he made the relevant payments and took over the vehicle.

Responding to the discussion regarding Customs taxes and the vehicle's value, he has mentioned that he posted this note to prevent incorrect news from circulating in society due to a lack of accurate information.

A few months ago, Mr. Dudley Sirisena had made initial arrangements to import a Rolls Royce Phantom 8 type car. After it was brought to the island via Airfreight, legal obstacles arose in clearing the vehicle a few days later due to an issue regarding cross-bordering regulations. Due to Customs reenforcing a regulation that existed in 2013, a high additional cost would have to be incurred to clear the relevant car; therefore, he took steps to pay re-export fees and send the car back.

Subsequently, he decided to import a technologically upgraded Phantom series 8 EWB (Extended Wheelbase) special model car released for the Rolls Royce company's 100th anniversary. This time, he entrusted the task to a famous vehicle import intermediary company in the island. Mr. Dudley Sirisena mentions that after paying the full amount for the vehicle to the relevant company, that institution imported the vehicle, paid all customs fees including taxes, cleared the car, and handed it over to him, after which he went abroad the very next day.

However, he states that after accepting the vehicle and going abroad, he learned that Customs had charged a fine of 07 crore rupees (70 million) because the relevant importer had not correctly declared the vehicle model. Not stating 'Phantom LWB' by the importer was the cause for this fine, and he emphasizes that since he purchased the vehicle by paying the full amount through an intermediary institution, the omissions made by the importer during that process or actions taken with the intention of making a profit are not relevant to him.

Commenting on the information regarding the vehicle's value circulating on social media, he states that the Phantom-8 centenary car worth 3 million dollars that many have looked up on the internet and the car he imported are two different models. Mr. Dudley Sirisena further points out that as a businessman who knows well the difficulty of running a business and the value of money, he is not foolish enough to spend billions of rupees on a motor car, and that many people who searched for information via the internet have confused these two Rolls Royce anniversary models.

His Facebook note is below

Since stories regarding the Rolls Royce Phantom 8 car I imported and Sri Lanka Customs are circulating in many places these days, I wanted to share my response about it with you all. (Because we all know that in an environment where nothing is known correctly, false news circulates very quickly.)
Here is the story. A few months ago, I prepared everything to import a luxury vehicle belonging to the Rolls-Royce Phantom 8 model to Sri Lanka. So, I opened the necessary bank letters of credit (LCs) etc., and brought the relevant motor car to Sri Lanka.
It was only after this motor car came to Sri Lanka via Airfreight and a few days had passed that we learned that Customs had reactivated the country's legal regulations regarding cross-bordering after about 2013. Until then, thousands of vehicles were generally imported to Sri Lanka through this method. (Cross-bordering means the LC relevant to the vehicle must be opened from the country where the vehicle was manufactured. The country of manufacture here was the United Kingdom).
So, because of that incident, since we would have to pay a large amount additionally to clear this motor car, what I did was pay the relevant re-export fees and send it back to that same institution. So, in an agreement reached between myself and that institution during that event, we agreed to bring such a car to Sri Lanka again in the future.
It was during that time that I heard Rolls Royce was going to introduce a series of limited production (Limited Edition) special models for their 100th anniversary. So, accordingly, I imported the Rolls Royce Phantom series 8, EWB motor car to Sri Lanka the other day. Because it is a technologically upgraded one compared to the car brought earlier.
So friends, this time I entrusted the importation of the vehicle to a famous intermediary vehicle importing company in the island. Since they are experienced experts in the field, all I had to do was pay the full amount due to them and stay aside quietly and watch.
So, just as thought, that institution imported my vehicle to Sri Lanka a few days ago. Afterwards, the people from that institution cleared the vehicle by paying all customs fees including taxes relevant to that vehicle, brought it, and handed it over to me. Since the transaction relevant to this was completed on my part, I accepted the vehicle and went abroad for an official visit the very next day.
So as a few days passed, I heard that Customs had charged a fine (penalty) of 07 crores from the relevant importer because the customs fees relevant to my vehicle were not paid properly.
You all know that when we import a vehicle, if it is done through a brokerage institution, we do not intervene in the process that happens until we take the vehicle into our hands. So something similar happened here. I only obtained my vehicle by paying the full amount I had to pay to my importer; I did not concern myself with what he did beyond that.
But in the end, what had happened was a fine was incurred because my vehicle importer did not mention 'Phantom LWB' as the model when importing this vehicle. Whether this happened due to an oversight by my importer in this event or whether it was done with the intention of making an extra profit is not something relevant to me because I only purchased an imported vehicle. Here, I only obtained the vehicle by paying the full promised amount to him before importing the vehicle.
Friends, since this luxury motor car is a special motor car released for the Rolls-Royce company's 100th anniversary, and since this belongs to the special LWB model, what our people did was seek the help of the internet to get information about this.
So, as soon as you say Rolls-Royce Anniversary Model, what comes up at the top is the Phantom-8 centenary car worth 3 million dollars created in parallel to this motor car. Since my motor car is also a special Anniversary Model, many people confused those two vehicle models.
As a businessman, no matter how much money I have, you all who know me closely know that I am not foolish enough to spend billions of rupees for something like a motor car. Because I know very well the difficulty of building a business as well as the difficulty of protecting a business these days.
So, since I was not in Sri Lanka to answer these kinds of things, and because I saw that many people have socialized whatever they felt like, I stopped a thousand tasks and wrote these few words in a hurry. So friends, simply put, that is the Rolls Royce Custom Penalty story..!
P.S.
Many people are asking in the inbox to publish photos of my home's puppies who were publicly talked about along with this incident. Therefore, for their sake, I am publishing a few photos of my Rosie, Brownie as well as Bunchi herewith.