Dhammika Kumara Athapatthu, the owner of Eon Lanka Investment and Film Production Financial Institution in Kurunegala, Hanhamunawa, was arrested by the Financial and Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department while hiding after defrauding an amount of 990 crores, is to be remanded until the 01st of next month. Wariyapola Magistrate Rasika Mallavarachchi ordered yesterday (27). (Sri Lanka Latest News)
The suspected businessman, who is said to have been hiding for almost two years after defrauding people of money, was arrested at a house in Kandy.
It is said that this person is a sergeant who escaped from the army. The Police Media Spokesperson’s Office stated that this person was the director and shareholder of this financial institution.
The suspect was arrested yesterday (26) by the officers of the Financial and Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department.
The Police Media Spokesman’s Office stated that the charges of criminal misappropriation of money and breach of trust have been leveled against this person and he has also laundered the money thus earned.
Claiming to give a high-interest rate, the suspected businessman running the relevant financial institution in his house located in Hanhamuna, Rs. Lakh to Rs. This large-scale financial fraud was carried out by taking cash deposits of various amounts exceeding one crore and then not returning the interest and money to the customers.
Among the people who lost money due to his fraud are politicians, high officials of the police and armed forces as well as businessmen and high officials who held various positions in the government.
It is said that people who have accumulated money in various corrupt transactions are among those who have invested in this financial institution and have lost money.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has imposed a ban on his illegal financial transactions and published public notices banning those transactions in the newspapers. A financial fraud case has also been filed against him in the Colombo High Court and it is currently being heard without a suspect.
Most of the people who lost money due to his financial fraud are currently serving and retired security forces, and they went on a hunger strike for over two months against the suspect in front of his housing complex located near Kurunegala Lake Circle.
They had to stop the fast due to the Corona epidemic situation that occurred during this time. When journalists were informed by the media not to be caught in this financial fraud, various threats were made to the journalists from the money depositors of this institution.
The officials of the Criminal Investigation Department informed the court that he had left his Kurunegala residence and moved to Kandy with his wife and children in response to protests from customers and was secretly living in a house in that area.
A person named Nihal Gunawardena, who is considered to be the second in charge of this financial institution, was also arrested a few days ago. It is said that that person is also a sergeant who has escaped from the army. The officials informed that an investigation was conducted based on the data of the mobile phone he used and the main suspect was arrested at a house near an international school in Kandy.
The officers of the Criminal Investigation Department informed the court that they have recorded the statements of more than 75 people who were caught in the frauds of this financial institution.
The magistrate also issued a court order to the relevant departments prohibiting the sale and transfer of 11 lands worth ten crores found in the possession of the two suspects.
The Magistrate gave an order to the Criminal Investigation Department to find out about the assets purchased in different names and in the names of different persons and report the facts to the court on the next court date.
