{"id":164208,"date":"2016-06-21T15:55:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T10:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=164208"},"modified":"2016-06-21T22:56:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:26:53","slug":"offices-of-sri-lankan-born-uk-tycoon-and-rajapaksa-associate-raided-by-french-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/offices-of-sri-lankan-born-uk-tycoon-and-rajapaksa-associate-raided-by-french-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Offices Of Sri Lankan Born UK Tycoon And Rajapaksa Associate Raided By French Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

The offices of Lycamobile<\/span><\/a>, owned by Sri Lankan born Subaskaran Allirajah was raided by French Police, with 19 people working for the company arrested in connection with a multi-million pound tax and money laundering scandal. Lycamobile is the UK conservative Party’s biggest donor, and Allirajah is alleged to be an associate of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

\"Subaskaran<\/a>

Subaskaran Allirajah<\/p><\/div>\n

Lycamobile, the multinational telecoms giant, which has given at least \u00a32.2m to Prime Minister David Cameron\u2019s party since 2011, including half-a-million last year alone, also allowed Boris Johnson to use one of their call centres during his successful 2012 campaign to become Mayor of London.<\/p>\n

There are allegations that Allirajah was involved in embezzling millions of dollars from Sri Lanka through associates who were close to Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

According to, BuzzFeed News, Sri Lankan authorities are scrutinizing a deal in which the state telecoms company was forced to pump around $10 million into a \u201ccompletely flawed\u201d venture owned jointly by a relative of Rajapaksa and a key offshore company in the Lycamobile business network.<\/p>\n

The raid follows an investigation by BuzzFeed that caught Lycamobile \u2018employing three cash couriers to drop rucksacks stuffed with hundreds of thousands of pounds twice a day at Post Offices scattered across London,\u2019 according to the news site.<\/p>\n

Bundles of cash were seized in raids on Lycamobile\u2019s Paris headquarters, and a series of residential and business addresses across the city, while the company\u2019 s French bank accounts have since been frozen.<\/p>\n

Lycamobile\u2019s Sri Lankan-born owner, Subaskaran Allirajah, is a member of the exclusive Leader\u2019s Group for top Tory donors.<\/p>\n

He has dined with Mr Cameron or members of his cabinet twice in the past six months, and is also close to Mr Johnson, after bankrolling his campaign.<\/p>\n

None of those involved admit any wrongdoing, with Lycamobile previously claiming that the filmed cash drops were just \u2018day to day banking\u2019.<\/p>\n

But according to Buzzfeed investigators the French authorities have identified money coming from shell companies suspected of acting as fronts for \u2018various networks laundering profits from crime.\u2019<\/p>\n

Buzzfeed probed 19 companies that allegedly funnelled tens of millions of euros into Lycamobile\u2019s French accounts.<\/p>\n

All but one \u2018was registered at PO boxes, vacant offices, derelict buildings, or a construction site.\u2019 David Cameron pledged to crack down on money laundering and offshore tax avoidance at the global anti-corruption summit in London last month.<\/p>\n

He said he wanted to \u2018send a clear message to the corrupt that there is no home for them here\u2019.<\/p>\n

According to the Buzzfeed investigation, Lycamobile is selling its prepaid calling cards on the black market in Paris for cash, and is then using a \u2018a vast system of false billing\u2019 to invoice fake companies for the sales in order to conceal other illicit payments.<\/p>\n

Lycamobile\u2019s own auditors declared over the past two years that they could not account for total of \u00a3646 million that moved through 10 companies in its complex corporate network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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