{"id":241688,"date":"2025-04-25T12:45:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T07:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=241688"},"modified":"2025-05-08T15:10:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:40:19","slug":"alleged-bmw-duty-fraud-akd-cannot-talk-about-corruption-if-he-runs-away-from-these-two-simple-acts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/alleged-bmw-duty-fraud-akd-cannot-talk-about-corruption-if-he-runs-away-from-these-two-simple-acts\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged BMW Duty Fraud; AKD Cannot Talk About Corruption If He Runs Away From These Two Simple Acts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p3\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>By <\/b><b><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Amrit+Muttukumaru\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> &#8211;<\/b><\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_142887\" style=\"width: 154px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-142887\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Amrit-Muttukumaru-144x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s3\">The state owned \u2018Daily News\u2019 of 9 June 2018 which referred to the alleged BMW duty fraud as a <\/span>\u201c<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/archives1.dailynews.lk\/2018\/06\/09\/local\/153418\/customs-begins-probe-undervalued-bmw%E2%80%99s?src=ilaw&amp;page=14\">massive fraud amounting to Rs.16 billion when importing 1,675 of BMW vehicles<\/a><\/span>\u201d went on to<span class=\"s3\"> describe it <\/span>as the \u201clargest ever<b> <\/b>customs fraud in Sri Lanka\u201d! It is <span class=\"s5\">horrendous<\/span> there has been no closure and accountability under the executive presidencies of MR, MS, GR, RW and now apparently under AKD for this alleged \u201cmassive fraud\u201d which originated almost one and a half decades ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">For now let\u2019s forget the other executive presidents and focus on incumbent Executive President AKD who after severely bashing all his predecessors made the fight against corruption the centerpiece of his presidential election campaign and that of the General Election campaign of his NPP. He vowed to hold wrongdoers swiftly accountable through credible investigative and judicial processes. It is now more than 7 and 5 months respectively after the Presidential and General Elections. This time period is more than sufficient to demonstrate whether he is sincere in combating corruption. Sadly AKD and his NPP have dismally failed in this task.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">The two SIMPLE acts proposed by this writer in this article gives AKD a golden opportunity to make a huge dent in the fight against large scale corruption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\"><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>BMW Duty Fraud in Essence<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">The alleged BMW duty fraud in essence concerns the DEMAND from filthy rich persons for luxury vehicles <span class=\"s6\">with the SUPPLY coming from senior bureaucrats who have UNLAWFULLY sold their <\/span>concessionary duty permits to such persons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">Hence, would not the revelation of the IDENTITY of those who have fraudulently registered these luxury vehicles under their names be a DETERRENT for future corrupt practices by other filthy rich persons?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">How filthy rich persons became so is a debate for the future. The question also arises why permits for luxury vehicles are given to public servants who for the most part do not have the funds to maintain them?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\"><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>Two Simple Acts for AKD<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">All AKD has to do is DEMAND that:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">1) Sri Lanka Customs discloses to the Presidential Secretariat within 24 hours the IDENTITY of the Public Officers who had concessionary permits to import 1,675 of BMW vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">2) Department of Motor Traffic discloses to the Presidential Secretariat within 24 hours the IDENTITY of the persons who are the registered owners of the 1,675 of BMW vehicles imported under the concessionary permits given to Public Officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">After receiving this information, AKD must ensure that it is JUXTAPOSED methodically (permit holders\/registered owners) and prominently published in the state owned print media within a week and if possible in the businessmen owned print media as well. <span class=\"s6\">Similarly the same should be done in the state owned electronic media and if possible in the businessmen owned electronic media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p11\">It is self-evident that these two <span class=\"s4\">straightforward\/simple<\/span> acts do not need the opinion of the Attorney General.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p11\"><span class=\"s1\" style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s7\">The two state institutions at the centre of the alleged BMW duty fraud are \u2018Sri Lanka Customs\u2019 and the \u2018<\/span>Department of Motor Traffic\u2019 widely known as corrupt institutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">If AKD is serious about combating corruption, he has the added resource of his Secretary &#8211; <span class=\"s3\">Dr. Nandika Kumanayake who has been a long standing senior officer at \u2018Sri Lanka Customs\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\">According to the Presidential Secretariat website he commenced his Customs career in 1997 as Assistant Superintendent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">The \u2018Daily FT\u2019 of 24 September 2024 reports:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">\u201cDr. Kumanayake had previously served as the Deputy Director of Sri Lanka Customs, focusing on research areas such as Corruption and Integrity in Customs\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">While under no circumstances stating that Dr. Kumanayake has any involvement in this alleged fraud, is it not reasonable to surmise that given his status as former Deputy Director and his focus on \u201cCorruption and Integrity in Customs\u201d he would have a good understanding of corruption in \u2018Sri Lanka Customs\u2019?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">To keep focus on the alleged \u201cmassive\u201d BMW duty fraud as a GAME CHANGER in the fight against corruption, other instances of credible allegations of <span class=\"s6\">egregious<\/span> corruption will be overlooked for now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">Over to you President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\">This is also forwarded to the state owned \u2018Daily News\u2019 and WNL owned \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 and \u2018Daily FT\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":241461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,46,8,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alleged BMW Duty Fraud; 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