As there have been many stories circulating recently regarding the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII vehicle I imported and issues related to Sri Lanka Customs, I felt it was necessary to share my response with you all. This is especially because, in an environment where accurate information is lacking, misinformation tends to spread very quickly — something we are all well aware of.
This is what actually happened.
A few months ago, I made all necessary arrangements to import a luxury vehicle, the Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII, into Sri Lanka. Accordingly, I opened the required bank facilities, including the Letter of Credit (LC), and brought the vehicle into the country.
Although the vehicle arrived in Sri Lanka via air freight and some time had passed, we later became aware that Sri Lanka Customs had re-activated certain cross-bordering regulations that had not been enforced since around 2013. Until then, thousands of vehicles had been imported using this same method. (Cross-bordering requires that the LC be opened from the country of manufacture, which in this case was the United Kingdom.)
Due to this regulatory issue, releasing the vehicle required the payment of a substantial additional amount. As a result, I chose to pay the applicable re-export charges and return the vehicle to the supplier. At that time, an agreement was reached between the supplier and myself to import a vehicle again at a later date.
During this period, I learned that Rolls-Royce was planning to introduce a limited series of special edition models to commemorate the company’s 100th anniversary. Accordingly, I later imported a Rolls-Royce Phantom Series VIII, EWB model to Sri Lanka, as it was an upgraded version with enhanced technology compared to the previously imported vehicle.
This time, I entrusted the entire import process to a well-known and established vehicle importing company in Sri Lanka. Given their industry experience, my role was simply to make the full payment required and wait until the process was completed.
As expected, a few days ago, the company successfully imported the vehicle, paid all applicable customs duties and taxes, cleared the vehicle, and handed it over to me. Since the transaction from my end was fully completed, I accepted the vehicle and departed overseas the very next day for an official work-related trip.
After a few days, I was informed that Sri Lanka Customs had imposed a penalty of LKR 70 million (7 crores) on the importer, citing that the relevant customs duties had not been correctly declared.
As many of you know, when a vehicle is imported through an intermediary company, the buyer does not intervene in the import procedures until the vehicle is handed over. That was the case here as well. I paid the full agreed amount and received my vehicle; beyond that, I was not involved in how the importer handled the process.
It later emerged that the penalty was imposed because the importer failed to declare the model correctly as “Phantom LWB” during the import process. Whether this omission was due to negligence or an attempt to gain additional profit is not a matter that concerns me, as my involvement was limited solely to purchasing the vehicle. I paid the full agreed amount in advance and obtained the vehicle as promised.
Friends, this is a special vehicle released by Rolls-Royce to commemorate its 100th anniversary, and it belongs to the exclusive EWB category. Naturally, many people searched the internet for information about it.
However, when searching for “Rolls-Royce Anniversary Model,” the most prominent result is the Phantom VIII Centenary model valued at approximately USD 3 million. Since my vehicle is also an anniversary edition, many people mistakenly confused the two models.
Those who know me personally are aware that, regardless of my financial capacity as a businessman, I am not foolish enough to spend billions of rupees on a single vehicle. I fully understand both how difficult it is to build a business and how challenging it is to sustain one in today’s economic environment.
Because I was not in Sri Lanka to respond immediately, I noticed that many assumptions and misleading narratives were being circulated. That is why I paused all my work and took the time to write this explanation, at least briefly.
So, friends, in simple terms — this is the full story behind the Rolls-Royce customs penalty issue.
