4 bank officials were even rewarded for illegally transferring dollars out of the country

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday (15) revealed to the court that four private bank officials who assisted in a large-scale racket involving the illegal transfer of 19,000 million rupees (one billion US dollars) abroad through Telegraphic Transfers (TT) via 89 fake companies, without importing any goods, had received approximately 12 million rupees (1.2 crore) as gratification.

These facts were presented before Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department regarding this massive financial crime committed at a time when the country's economy was in a severe crisis. The complaint was filed against eight suspects, including the main suspect, Jeffrey Mohamed, Mohamed Musammil Mohamed Inpas, and Sheikh Mohideen Mohamed Hathif, who are currently in remand custody in connection with the incident. It was also reported that the suspect bank officials, who had been released on bail, did not appear in court on that day.

The main suspect, Jeffrey Mohamed, had imported identity cards of individuals residing in Dubai for this racket, and then created fake documents using those names to register companies in Sri Lanka. Out of the 89 fake companies thus established, 72 have so far been identified through investigations. Although the maximum amount that can be remitted at one time according to the regulations of the Controller of Imports and Exports is 50,000 US dollars, bank officials assisted in transferring an enormous amount of dollars out of the country through this network of fake companies.

The bank officials who provided assistance were initially given cash, and later, on several occasions, money was credited to their bank accounts. According to the facts presented by the CID to the court, these funds were transferred in amounts such as 8.1 million rupees, 1,725,000 rupees, 961,000 rupees, 700,000 rupees, and 600,000 rupees. The sixth suspect had credited 961,000 rupees to one bank official, and 50,000 rupees and an additional 185,000 rupees on six other occasions to the third suspect bank official.

Investigating officers informed the court that as soon as the suspects learned that information about this racket was being revealed to the police, they immediately deleted all relevant data from their computer devices and burned and destroyed the invoice sheets.

The CID requested the court to refuse bail for the suspects as these investigations, conducted under the Money Laundering Act, are not yet complete.

However, lawyers appearing for the main suspect, Jeffrey Mohamed, requested the court to grant him bail for this incident as he had already been granted bail by the Colombo High Court and the Negombo Magistrate's Court. But the Chief Magistrate rejected this request, emphasizing that bail had been granted by other courts for different matters, and this massive investigation is not yet complete. Accordingly, the Magistrate ordered the suspects to be further remanded until the upcoming 22nd.