Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Nalaka Jayasuriya issued two prohibitory orders to Immigration officers at Katunayake and Mattala International Airports to prevent the Sathosa Anuradhapura branch manager from travelling abroad in connection to a large scale rice fraud.
According to the police, the money scammed from rice amounts to more than Rs.60 million.
In the meantime, the Chief Magistrate further ordered the Commercial Crime Investigation Division No. 11 of the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct extensive investigations into this large-scale rice fraud and submit a report showing the progress of those investigations to the court.
The Chief Magistrate made this order taking into consideration a presentation made to the Court by the Commercial Crime Investigation Division No. 11 of the Criminal Investigation Department. According to the CID the rice in question was imported to Sri Lanka between October 29, 2021 and June 23, 2022 due to a rice shortage. A stock from the above imported rice has been kept at the Anuradhapura Sathosa branch and according to preliminary investigations, the branch manager is involved in frauding rice worth more than Rs. 60 million.
The CID requested the magistrate to impose a travel ban on the suspect considering the large amount of money scammed in the said illegal transactions. If the suspect leaves abroad, it will hinder the investigations carried out on the matter, CID further said.The suspect is one Pavithra Madumali Gunawardena, a resident of Elayapatthuwa, Anuradhapura.
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