Wednesday, 18 March 2015 00:00
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Lanka Hospitals Corporation Plc said yesterday that the Chief Magistrate Court of Colombo, through an order made yesterday in case No B24237/3/15, had directed the company to provide all the necessary information and documents requested by the Office of the Director of the Financial Crime Investigation Division of Colombo.
“It is understood that the request is consequent to a complaint made and being investigated under allegations of financial irregularities in the company,” Lanka Hospitals said.
“Accordingly we will be complying with the request made to us by the Director Financial Crime Investigation Division of Colombo,” Lanka Hospitals added in a filing to the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Reports said that the Police Financial Fraud Investigation Division (PFFID) had launched an investigation into financial fraud that was alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2014 at Lanka Hospitals Corporation Plc under the chairmanship of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The PFFID informed Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris that the investigations were based on a complaint lodged by Dr. Neomal Alexander Perera, a cancer specialist attached to Lanka Hospitals. The magistrate directed the police to file an investigation report in court on 4 June.
In his complaint, Dr. Perera said that Rajapaksa was appointed as the Lanka Hospitals Chairman after Sri Lanka Insurance reverted to Government ownership after 65.14% shares were acquired by the State. The complainant said that Rajapaksa took control of the affairs of the hospital and was responsible for a financial fraud amounting to Rs. 600 million that took place after artificially manipulating the price of Lanka Hospital shares in the stock market.
The complainant said that Rajapaksa was also responsible for the rapidly increasing costs incurred by the Board of Directors, amounting to Rs. 12 million in 2014. He said a fraud of Rs. 350 million had taken place when the hospital set up the LHD Diagnostics Laboratory and that several irregularities had occurred during the purchase of two houses by Lanka Hospitals which did not follow a proper tender procedure.
