CID records statements from 150 people over Rs. 263 m credit card fraud

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

CID detectives informed Court that they had recorded statements from 150 people in connection with the Rs. 263 million fraud, where funds belonging to foreign credit cardholders were withdrawn using an e-commerce application service provided by a Sri Lankan State bank.

In this scam, the State bank had incurred a massive Rs. 263 million loss and 14 suspects who were allegedly involved in the incident had been detained under CID custody.

When the case came up before Colombo Fort Magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne, the CID maintained that investigations conducted so far had revealed that the all suspects involved in the incident had received financial gains.



 The CID detectives further told Court that they were considering extending the detention period in respect of all suspects for a further period of time.

Meanwhile, Senior Counsel Upul Jayasuriya appearing on behalf of the fourth suspect queried the authenticity of the detention order. He alleged the President’s signature for the detention order as the Defence Minister had been fraudulently placed on the order paper by someone else using a rubberstamp. Defence counsel maintained that it is clearly apparent the real signature of the President was not included in the detention order.

The CID investigating into the incident alleged that the suspects had obtained the Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) facility from the State bank through two Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in 2011. The CID said the two NGOs had received massive amounts of money as donation from foreign credit cardholders for a period of one year.

The fraud had come to light after the foreign credit cardholders had complained to the credit card issuers that their money had been fraudulently withdrawn by someone without their knowledge.

In one instance, issuing a chargeback notice to the Sri Lankan bank with regard to Rs. 454,251, the FIA Card Services, a representative institution of the Bank of America in USA, had alleged that the relevant money transaction had taken place without its customers’ knowledge.

The CID alleged that the money transactions had taken place using fraudulent credit cards and funds withdrawn had been deposited in bank accounts belonging to the Sahana Foundation and the Women and Children Development Foundation.

The CID suspects that through this fraudulent transaction, a massive amount of funds could have been remitted to the LTTE as well. The 14 suspects had been charged under the Public Property Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provision) Act.