Lak Sathosa garlic fraud: Four more remanded

The Wattala Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered to remand the four Lak Sathosa officers who were arrested on Monday on charges of aiding and abetting in the alleged garlic fraud at Lak Sathosa, till October 14.

The Assistant General Manager of Lak Sathosa, a Senior Supplies Manager, a Supply Manager, and a Wholesale Store Manager were arrested by the CID on Monday when summoned to the Division to record a statement. They were produced before Court yesterday.

A Deputy General Manager of the Lak Sathosa Financial Division was arrested in connection with this incident and has been released on bail. In addition, the CID had earlier arrested the person accused of buying garlic in connection with this fraud.

On September 9, the Consumer Affairs Authority carried out a sudden inspection on imported essential food items. This raid took place following a tip from a Sathosa employee that an illegal transaction was taking place at the Lak Sathosa warehouse in Welisara, where 56,000 kilograms of garlic were released without an invoice.

According to the Consumer Affairs Authority investigations, perpetrators had sold a kilogram of garlic to the businessman for Rs. 135, however, at that time the price per kilogram of garlic in the Lak Sathosa Database was listed at Rs. 355.