Country loses over Rs. 700 million importing vehicles for CHOGM

Saturday, 26 October 2013 

The patriotic Mahinda Rajapaksa government has managed to deprive the country of over Rs. 700 million in taxes when importing luxury vehicles for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo next month.

The Finance Ministry headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa has granted tax concessions amounting to Rs.757,752,826 to import 54 luxury hybrid Benz cars to be used by the state leaders during CHOGM.

The tax relief has been granted through the gazette no.1793/5 issued on January 15, 2013 and recommended by the Additional Director General of the Department of National Budget A.K. Seneviratna on January 14th.

The value of an imported Benz cars with tax is approximately Rs.1,633,176,047. However, it would cost only Rs. 875,423,248 with the tax exemption.

The Benz cars are exported by Daimler from Germany. The cars have been imported to Sri Lanka by Metropolis Logistics (Pvt) Ltd., located at 126/10 B YMBA Building, Colombo 1.