A father and son were yesterday sentenced to 10 years Rigorous Imprisonment for defrauding a private bank of over Rs.90 million by producing forged documents alleging that tea leaves were exported to Oman by the Colombo High Court.
The father and son, who had obtained the money along with the general manager of a private bank, have now fled to Oman and issued an open warrant informing the Controller of Immigration and Emigration to arrest the accused when they return to Sri Lanka.
Both accused were also imposed to pay a fine of Rs. 300,000 by the Colombo High Court.
The order was issued by Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige and he issued the verdict following lengthy trial and he observed that the prosecution has proved the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubts.
Accused Velayudhan Pemlal and Praveen Otal were sentenced and they were ordered to pay the amount obtained producing forged documents as compensation.
The accused had submitted forged documents stating that they had exported tea leaves to Oman and obtained the money from the complainant bank before receiving the money from the Oman Company. The complaint also proved to Court that the documents and the Oman Company were forged.
Announcing the verdict, the judge said that the general manager of the bank who dumped the money on the accused had passed away during the trial.
Deputy Solicitor General Hiranjana Peiris who appeared for the prosecution stated that more than Rs. 97,175,000 had been defrauded by the accused.
Thursday, June 23, 2022 – 01:00