The billionaire who smuggled $24 billion out of the country using forged documents has been arrested.

A thirty-five-year-old millionaire businessman, accused of illegally transferring a large sum of 24 billion US dollars out of the country by preparing fake documents, has been arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department. The arrested individual is a resident of the Veilla Veediya area in Colombo.

Investigations have revealed that these dollar reserves were sent abroad through electronic money transfer systems, using 89 companies registered in the country under the guise of importing goods, and no relevant goods were imported into the country for this purpose. Regarding this large-scale racket carried out through five companies, Mr. A.W. Sudath I. Silva, Additional Director of Sri Lanka Customs, had lodged a complaint with Inspector General of Police, Attorney Priyantha Weerasuriya.

Acting on the orders given by the Inspector General of Police to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division to conduct a full investigation into the complaint, officers, based on the information revealed, arrested this suspect businessman. The Financial Crimes Investigation Division, conducting further investigations into the incident, is taking steps to produce the suspect before the court.