Court rejects Arjun Aloysius’ bail request again

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday rejected the bail application filed on behalf of three Directors of W.M. Mendis and Company Ltd., Arjun Aloysius, A.R. Dinendra John and Prasanna Kumarasiri de Silva.

This was the second time that the Court refused to grant bail on the respondents, in a bail pending appeal.

The ruling was delivered yesterday by Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Ilangasinghe. The court rejected the bail request despite arguments presented by Razik Zarook PC, who represented the respondents. Zarook argued that the case had escalated into a criminal matter, making his clients eligible for bail.

However, Magistrate Ilangasinghe clarified that the case, filed by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), was based on an alternative punishment and did not constitute a criminal case under the law, thereby ruling out the possibility of granting bail.

On Monday (14), the Colombo Magistrate’s Court imprisoned Aloysius and two others based on a case filed by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). 

Aloysius, and two others were sentenced to a six-month jail term by the Court for defaulting on the payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) amounting to Rs. 3.5 billion.

Despite several legal actions taken to enforce compliance, the taxes remained unpaid, prompting the IRD to take the matter to court. 

On 14 November 2023, the Court ordered the three Directors to settle the outstanding taxes. However, they failed to meet the payment obligations within the stipulated period, leading to their sentencing.

Following the sentencing, the defendants filed an appeal, seeking to overturn the court’s decision and proposing to settle the VAT payments in instalments. However, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court swiftly rejected the appeal and denied their request to pay the overdue taxes in instalments.