21 NGO workers further remanded over Rs. 263 m credit card fraud
Friday, 28 June 2013 04:35
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By Lakmal Sooriyagoda
21 NGO workers who were arrested in connection with the Rs. 263 million fraud, where funds belonging to foreign credit card holders were withdrawn using an e-commerce application service provided by a Sri Lankan State bank, were ordered to be further remanded until 3 July by a Colombo Court yesterday.
Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage refused to release the suspects on bail, who were attached to two NGOS, the Sahana Foundation and the Women and Children’ Development Foundation, considering the seriousness of the charges which were levelled against them.
The suspects were detained under CID custody for more than five months to ascertain whether the money earned through this fraudulent transaction had been remitted to the LTTE. The CID alleged that the funds collected by NGOs had not been allocated for charity works but distributed among themselves.
In this scam, the State bank had incurred a massive Rs. 263 million loss and 21 suspects who were allegedly involved in the incident had been arrested by CID. 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-governmental organisations in 2011. The CID said that the two NGOs had received massive amounts of money as donation from foreign credit card holders for a period of one year.
The fraud had come to light after the foreign credit card holders had complained to the credit card issuers that their money had been fraudulently withdrawn by someone without their knowledge. In one instance, issuing a charge-back 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 the 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The CID alleged that the money transactions had taken place using fraudulent credit cards and funds withdrawn had been deposited in bank accounts belonging to the Sahana Foundation and the Women and Children’ Development Foundation.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 suspects had been charged under the Public Property Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provision) Act.
