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Court bans 8 accounts of an American financial company

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Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis yesterday (19) ordered an American company named ‘Binance.com’, which had invested in OnmaxDT Pvt. Company accused of earning USD 100 million through illegal pyramid schemes, to freeze eight accounts of the company.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the court that according to the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, this is the first time that a Sri Lankan court has issued an order to an American financial institution.

It was revealed that more than Rs.430 million rupees have been deposited in eight accounts of the American financial company ‘Binance.com’, and accordingly, the CID requested an order to suspend the transactions of those eight accounts for a period of six months from yesterday (19).

Accordingly, the eight suspended accounts are Onmax DT Private Limited (Sri Lanka), Onmax Pty Ltd. Company (Australia), the account established in the name of Sri Lankans Dhananjaya Gayan, Sampath Sandaruwan Lenaduwage, Saranga Randika Jayatissa (two accounts), Vikramapeli Gedera Chandrakanti and Kahadawa Arachchige Athula Indika Sampath.

Earlier, the Magistrate imposed a travel ban on six directors of the Onmax DT, Sampath Sandaruwan, Athula Indika Sampath, Gayashan Abeyratne, Madhuranga Prasanna, Saranga Randika, and Dhananjaya Jayan.

The CID informed the court that statements were recorded from two persons regarding two accounts of Onmax.

The CID also requested the court to issue an order to submit the mobile phones and computers of the two persons to the Computer Emergency Readiness Team to inspect the accounts. Accordingly, the Magistrate issued the order.

On the 28th, orders were issued by the court to freeze 57 bank accounts under the name of the company in Bank of Ceylon, Central Finance, Nations Trust, Seylan Bank and People’s Trust banks.

According to a complaint made by the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the facts regarding this incident were reported to the court by the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit of the CID.

The CID informed the court that by registering a company as ‘Onmax DT’ private company and conducting illegal pyramid transactions through that company, more than 100 million US dollars had been transacted in Crypto Currency Wallets.

The CID reported to the court that the owners of the company have committed a punishable offence under Section 83 A (1) of the Banking Act and Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

(Lankadeepa)

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Full economic recovery is not yet assured – IMF

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An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team led by Mr. Peter Breuer and Ms. Katsiaryna Svirydzenka visited Colombo from September 14 to 27, 2023 to discuss economic and financial policies to support the approval of the First Review of the program under the EFF arrangement.

At the end of the mission, Mr. Breuer and Ms. Svirydzenka issued the following statement:

“The people of Sri Lanka have shown remarkable resilience in the face of enormous challenges. Sri Lanka has made commendable progress in implementing difficult but much-needed reforms. These efforts are bearing fruit as the economy is showing tentative signs of stabilization. Inflation is down from a peak of 70 percent in September 2022 to below 2 percent in September 2023, gross international reserves increased by $1.5 billion during March-June this year, and shortages of essentials have eased. Despite early signs of stabilization, full economic recovery is not yet assured. Growth momentum remains subdued, with real GDP in the second quarter contracting by 3.1 percent on a year-on-year basis and high-frequency economic indicators continuing to provide mixed signals. Reserve accumulation has slowed in recent months.

“Sustaining the reform momentum is critical to put the economy on a path towards lasting recovery and stable and inclusive economic growth. The authorities have met the program’s primary balance targets and remain committed to this important pillar of the program so as to support their efforts to restore debt sustainability. However, revenue mobilization gains–while improved relative to last year–are expected to fall short of initial projections by nearly 15 percent by year end, in part due to economic factors. The onus of fiscal adjustment would fall on public expenditure if there were no efforts to recoup this shortfall. This could weaken the government’s ability to provide essential public services; and undermine the path to debt sustainability. To increase revenues and signal better governance, it is important to strengthen tax administration, remove tax exemptions, and actively eliminate tax evasion.

“Against continued uncertainty, it also remains important to rebuild external buffers by strong reserves accumulation. Building on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s success in controlling inflation, refraining from monetary financing will help keep inflation in check. Other challenges include maintaining cost recovery of electricity pricing.

“The government has made steady progress on structural reforms. Key legislations passed in Parliament, including the new Central Bank Act and the Anti-Corruption Act, could improve governance if implemented effectively. The IMF Governance Diagnostic report would inform future reform measures to strengthen governance when published. A new welfare benefit payment scheme was enacted with new eligibility criteria that aims to improve targeting, adequacy, and coverage of social safety nets. To ensure financial stability, steps were taken on conducting bank diagnostics, developing a roadmap for addressing banking system capital and liquidity shortfalls, and improving the bank resolution framework.

“The authorities have also made headway on regaining debt sustainability through the execution of the domestic debt restructuring and advancing discussions with external creditors. As Sri Lanka is restructuring its public debt which is in arrears, Executive Board approval of the first program review requires the completion of financing assurances reviews. These financing assurances reviews will focus on whether adequate progress has been made with debt restructuring to give confidence that it will be concluded in a timely manner and in line with the program’s debt targets.

“Discussions are on-going, and the authorities are continuing to make progress on their plans for revenue mobilization targets, anti-corruption efforts, and other important structural reforms.

“The IMF team held meetings with President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, State Minister Mr. Shehan Semasinghe, Chief of Staff to the President Mr. Sagala Ratnayaka, Secretary to the Treasury Mr. K M Mahinda Siriwardana, and other senior government and CBSL officials. The IMF team also met with Parliamentarians, representatives from the private sector, civil society organizations, and development partners.

“We would like to thank the authorities for the excellent collaboration during the mission. The team will continue its discussions in the context of the First Review with the goal of reaching a staff-level agreement in the near term. We reaffirm our commitment to support Sri Lanka at this difficult time.”

(imf.org)

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Sri Pada open for off-season pilgrims

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The Ratnapura-Sri Pada Road (Palabaddala Road) and the Nallathani Road will be open for pilgrims who climb the Sri Padaya during the off-season, the Wildlife Conservation Department said.

They said the ticket counter had been opened at the place where the Pawanella police security point was located on the Ratnapura Sri Pada road, and another ticket counter was located where the Nallathanni Wildlife security office was located.

These ticket counters are open daily from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. on the following day.

The Wildlife Department is on alert for the pilgrims who enter the forest reserve.

The Kuruvita, Dehekanda and Marigoda roads will be closed for foreigners entering the forest reserve through the above roads.

Legal action will be taken against foreigners who enter the forest reserve under the Wildlife and Flora Protection Ordinance Act.

(dailymirror.lk)

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8 sentenced to death for murder in 2003

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A group of eight accused who stood indicted with murder were found guilty and sentenced to death by Kalutara High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne today (27).

They had on March 24, 2003 hacked to death a resident of Kaleel Place, Kalutara South, Zeiyar Mohamed Faris during a brawl. The Attorney General had filed indictments against them after non-summary proceedings in the magistrate’s court.

The convicted are :  Mohamed Zein Mohamed Hamza (46), Abdul Careem Mohamed Riszvin (49) Mohamed Mowz (59), Mohamed, Riyazdeen (45) Mohamed Jiffry Mohamad Jinna (47), Mohamad Jiffry Mohamed Piridaws (43) Mohamad Zahir Mohamad Ziyam (44), and Mohamed Nilabdeen Mohamed Ajeel(45) and they are all aresidents of Maha Heenatiyangala area in Kalutara.

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