Complaint to the Bribery Commission on Gold Quest financial fraud

Thursday, 22 November 2012

A complaint has been lodged by UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake at the Bribery Commission against Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal over the alleged financial fraud committed through a pyramid scam by Malaysia’s Gold Quest Company with Sri Lanka’s Fern Tea Company.

The complaint states that the pyramid scam had been formulated by Gold Quest and that it had received over Rs. 10 billion through Fern Tea. The monies had been directly sent to Malaysia without following any foreign exchange regulations.

A complaint in this regard had been received by the Exchange Control Unit of the Central Bank in 2004 and an investigation had been initiated on the matter. The investigation had found that Fern Tea Company and its Director Anura Fernando had violated exchange regulations.

Anura Fernando is a close friend of Cabraal, who was appointed as the Central Bank Governor in 2006. The Central Bank Governor immediately put a stop to the investigation into Gold Quest and Fern Tea. Central Bank officials say that even the files on the investigation had gone missing after the inquiry was stopped.

The exchange regulations on the maximum amount of money that could be taken out of the country and the monies that has to be paid for such a move have been violated. Karunanayake has pointed out that the incident came under the category of corruption and should therefore be investigated.