Shavendra threatens officer for raiding casino
Tuesday, 02 July 2013
The organized crimes division of the Police Department had on June 28th raided a casino called Red Star that operated near a girl’s school in Bambalapitiya. The head of the division, SSP T. Ganeshanathan it is learnt is being threatened by Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Major General Shavendra Silva after directing the raid.
The owner of this illegal casino, Hiran Vichakshana and Silva has been close friends since school days. When Ganeshanathan had explained the reason for carrying out the raid to Silva, he had disconnected the telephone line. Silva’s security had then telephoned a senior officer in the organized crime unit and said, “We did not win the war for Jaffna Tamils to act as they please.” The message was conveyed to the Tamil SSP. The SSP has explained the reason for the raid being the fact that the casino had failed to pay Rs. 100 million that is due to be paid to the Inland Revenue Department for operating such a business. The government does not issue any casino licenses and the only way to operate a casino is to get a receipt from the Inland Revenue Department after paying Rs. 100 million.
An official from the Inland Revenue Department said that there are currently nine casinos operating in the country and that eight of them are in Colombo. He observed that the only casino owners who make the due payments to the government for their business are Transport Ministry Secretary Dhammika Perera and businessman Ravi Wijeratne. However, the raid on Red Star had been carried out following a tip off given by the Inland Revenue Department that a casino was being operated in Bambalapitiya without making the necessary payments. Accordingly, the raid was carried out on the 28thand the police had taken into custody the people, equipment and monies that were at the premises at the time. The persons arrested were presented before court on the 29th and they were released on bai
2013-07-02
The image shows a large number of bones that were found by construction workers who had been digging a cesspit in Mihintale.
