It has now been revealed that the largest fraud in Sri Lanka was not the sugar tax fraud, which cost 15.6 billion, or the bond fraud, which cost 12 billion, but the cigarette fraud, which cost 880 billion.
This has been revealed in a series of special revelations made in Parliament in recent days.
In this case, SJB Member of Parliament Mr. Iran Wickramaratne stated in Parliament that the government loses approximately $40 billion per year due to non-imposition of taxes on cigarettes.
This has been going on since 2000, according to the member.
As a result, if we look at the figures from 2000 to today, we can see that the country has lost around 880 billion rupees in income.
In addition to Mr. Wickramaratne, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and Tamil National Alliance member Shanakya Rasamanikkam criticised the government for failing to take action to avoid imposing cigarette tax in a specific manner.
They pointed out that tobacco companies give various perks to politicians and high-ranking officials in exchange for tax breaks.
The revelation that Iran made on loses of 40 billion a year from cigarette taxes!
Rasamanikkam’s shocking revelation that cigarette companies make 50 billion profit a year!
Sajit’s revelation that the country loses 63 billion a year from cigarettes!
Anura’s revelation in the parliament
