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Call fresh tenders for security features on liquor bottles: House committee

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The Parliamentary Ways and Means Committee has recommended that the Excise Department call a fresh tender for a new security feature for liquor bottles following widespread issues over the current security sticker supplied by an Indian company.

The Committee, which presented its first report to Parliament this week, identified many issues related to the implementation of the security feature, Committee Chairman Patali Champika Ranawaka told the Sunday Times. “The security sticker is supposed to be foolproof but we found that it has been widely forged,” he said.

The Indian company, Madras Security Printers (MSP), won the contract in 2018 to supply security stickers to be printed on liquor bottles.

Acting on instructions from the Ways and Means Committee, the Excise Department has been carrying out island-wide raids over the past few weeks to take into custody liquor bottles suspected to contain fake security stickers. The scam is believed to have resulted in the loss of millions of rupees in tax revenue to the Excise Department.

As of Friday (8), 43,776 liquor bottles that were taken into custody have been confirmed to contain fake security stickers. Fines amounting to Rs. 43.4 million have been imposed for bottles that have been identified, Excise Commissioner Kapila Kumarasinghe told the Sunday Times.

The fine consists of compounding fees, defaulted excise charges and late fees.

Tests are continuing to identify whether other bottles taken into custody from the market also contain fake security stickers.

The vast majority of liquor bottles found with fake security stickers were 180ml bottles, according to officials.

The cost of a genuine security sticker is Rs. 1.80. The tax revenue that is lost to the government through a fake security sticker however, is Rs. 2,900 each for a large 750ml liquor bottle, Mr. Ranawaka said.

He noted that the Ways and Means Committee had identified several other shortcomings in the usage of the security sticker. The primary concern was that there was no homogenous identification system for all 23 liquor manufacturing companies. Four companies, including two that account for 73% of the liquor market share, are using a digital image feature while others are using the security sticker. The companies using the digital feature have argued that pasting security stickers is not practical for them due to their speedy production process. Accordingly, Cabinet approval had been granted in 2021 enabling the usage of either a paper-based foolproof sticker or digital image print in the liquor bottles.

The Committee, however, has recommended that the Excise Department take measures to include all liquor manufacturers in the system of using the security tax stamp.

The current security sticker system is also not customer-friendly, with only Excise Department officials having the technology to identify genuine stickers from fake ones. As such, the Committee has recommended the introduction of a mobile application with QR-based technology to enable customers to easily identify fake security stickers. Accordingly, a customer must be able to scan the QR code on the security sticker to verify whether the product they are purchasing is genuine or not.

Given the issues regarding delays in tax collection, the Committee has also called for the introduction of an automatic taxation system enabling immediate tax collection after the completion of the production process.

“We have made our recommendations (to call for a fresh tender). The decision is up to the Finance Ministry. If it does not call a fresh tender in line with the recommendations we have made, it will have to explain to us why,” said Mr. Ranawaka.

Meanwhile, the Ways and Means Committee has further recommended that the government expedite the establishment of an Integrated Revenue Management System (IRMS) which links different government agencies including the Excise Department.

Attempts to contact Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitya proved futile.

(sundaytimes.lk)

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Weather Alert: Showers to ease in Southwest, strong winds forecast in North

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Prevailing showery condition in the southwestern part of the island is expected to reduced gradually from today (01st)

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about (30-40) kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central and North-western provinces and in Hambantota and Trincomalee districts.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

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Aluthgamage and Fernando assigned printing work in prison

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Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando, sentenced this week to jail for 20 and 25 years, respectively, have been assigned duties in the printing section at the Welikada prison, sources said.

Both of them are being held together away from the main section of the prison’s ‘chapel’ section, where prisoners serving life sentences and those convicted of murder and rape are held. The prison’s printing section prints its own documentation.

Prison sources said that in placing them in relevant wards to serve their jail term, the authorities had taken into consideration the security of the two convicts, as they might have had political enemies.

Mr Aluthgamage was handed a 20-year term of rigorous imprisonment, while Mr Fernando was given a 25-year term of rigorous imprisonment by a High Court trial-at-bar after being found guilty of causing a Rs 53 million loss to the state.

They were accused of importing carrom boards and checkers boards through Sathosa during the 2015 presidential elections and distributing them to clubs.

Their lawyers said yesterday they were awaiting the certified copy of the judgement to prepare the appeal papers. The appeal will be considered by the Supreme Court.

(sundaytimes.lk)
(This story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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COVID subvariants spreading in Asia detected in Sri Lanka

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The Medical Research Institute of Sri Lanka has confirmed that the COVID-19 variant currently spreading in the Asian region has also been identified in the country.

Dr. Jude Jayamaha, a specialist in viral diseases at the Medical Research Institute, stated that patients infected with the Omicron subvariants LF.7 and XFG are being reported locally.

Dr. Jayamaha explained that this finding was confirmed through research conducted on biological samples collected from several hospitals across the island.

However, he emphasized that there is no need for undue fear regarding these COVID-19 variants.

Health authorities have also stressed the importance of vulnerable groups—such as pregnant mothers, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses—following health guidelines, including wearing face masks and avoiding crowded places.

Dr. Jayamaha reiterated that new COVID-19 variants emerge periodically, and health authorities are continuously monitoring the situation, so the public should remain calm.

(newswire.lk)

(This story, originally published by newswire.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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