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Rs.40mn fine imposed on liquor company with fake stickers!

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The Excise Department informed the Parliament’s Committee on Ways and Means that more than 44,000 bottles of liquor with fake stickers were seized during the inspection of 52 liquor bottle manufacturing sites.

The Excise Department said that the fine collected from one company for the liquor bottles with fake stickers was nearly Rs.40 million.

This information was revealed at the hearing of the Committee on Ways and Means yesterday which was held under the chairmanship of MP Patali Champika Ranawaka. A group of officials including Excise Commissioner General Saman Jayasinghe were present at the meeting.

Due to the use of fake stickers, the tax revenue that has been lost to the country so far is Rs.2,900 from each bottle of liquor. The recent raids were conducted by the Excise Department following the recommendations given by the committee on August 22, 2023.

MP Ranawaka recommended to the Excise Department that if these fake sticker smuggle continues, the licenses of the alcohol manufacturing companies should be revoked according to Section 27 of the Excise Act and to complain to the Criminal Investigation Department.

An app

The Committee recommended to the Excise Department to introduce a mobile app based on QR technology that will allow the people to identify the standard of the liquor bottles.

Accordingly, it was decided that an IT application containing the following components should be introduced before the end of this year.

* Ability to automatically calculate tax immediately after completion of production process.
* Ability to renew licenses online.
* Automatic cancellation of licenses in case of tax default.
* Being able to interact with other institutions and the facility to use the National Identity Card number as the identification number.

License to be revoked if taxes not paid

Furthermore, the committee also instructed to cancel the licenses in accordance with Section 27 of the Excise Ordinance Act by October 30, if the manufacturing factories failed to pay the tax dues as per the Rs.6 billion arrears payment plan.

In addition to these recommendations, the Committee on Ways and Means gave recommendations to introduce a system that can monitor all 38 toddy factories, a common identification method for all liquor bottles that can easily identify fake liquor bottles and to set up a system where the Commissioner General of Excise can supervise all 23 liquor manufacturing factories.

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Passengers jump from plane’s wing after fire alert on Spain flight, triggers panic

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Wildfires have broken out on an island and in towns near Athens in Greece, with blazes also being sparked in Turkey and Syria.

The Hellenic Fire Service and local authorities said that two villages – Tsakeoi and Limnionas – had been evacuated on the island of Evia after the blaze started late on Friday.

One fire service official said more than 160 firefighters, 46 trucks and five aircraft were deployed in southern Evia to put out the fire.

Southern Evia, to the east of Athens, was one of several regions in Greece placed on high alert for wildfires over gale-force winds forecast for today.

Images from Koropi, a town to the southwest of Athens, also show houses burnt down and helicopters dropping water on burning forests.

It marks the latest wildfires to break out in Greece – where blazes are common during the summer – as it tackles strong winds and dry conditions amid an early summer heatwave in southern Europe.

Officials have linked the conditions to at least nine deaths across the continent.

A wildfire broke out in Achlia on the island of Crete on Wednesday, forcing thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate – with some taken to a nearby basketball arena and hotels in safer parts of the island.

The fire service official told Reuters on Friday that the fire in Crete was largely contained.

Meanwhile, blazes have also broken out on Turkey’s west coast – the latest in a series of blazes which started in late June – as well as its southerly neighbour Syria.

At least five fires have been reported in Izmir after extreme heat, strong winds and low humidity. Two people have been killed by the blazes, while tens of thousands have been evacuated.

Fires also flared on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border on Friday, with a new blaze reported near the town of Dortyol in Turkey’s border province of Hatay.

According to Syria’s Civil Defence, wildfires have spread across large parts of mountainous areas in the Latakia province.

The government department added that conditions have hampered efforts to bring the fire under control, and noted unexploded ordnance could be in some of the areas affected.

Source: SKY NEWS

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CBSL extends Perpetual Treasuries suspension for six months

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The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has decided to extend the suspension of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) from carrying on the business and activities of a Primary Dealer for a further period of six months.

The extension is with effect from 4.30 p.m. on 05th July 2025, in order to continue the investigations being conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The suspension has been extended by CBSL acting in terms of the Regulations made under the Registered Stock and Securities Ordinance and the Local Treasury Bills Ordinance.

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Kataragama Basnayake Nilame pressured over complaint against Kapuwas’ donation misuse

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It has been reported that Dishan Wickramaratne Gunasekara – the Basnayake Nilame of the historic Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devalaya, is facing pressure including from several parties including political circles to withdraw his complaint lodged against the custodians (Kapu Mahattaya) of the devalaya.

The issue had arisen after it was discovered that some custodians were collecting money into their own tills instead of allowing them to be deposited in the official donation box.

Public discussion about the transparency of the temple’s donations intensified after the Basnayake Nilame had begun using a portion of the funds for community projects like hospital construction.

Traditionally, devotees often handed donations directly to the custodians, but the Basnayake Nilame had urged the public via media to place offerings only in the official donation box managed by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.

He subsequently arranged a proper audit of all such donations for the first time.

In response, some custodians had reportedly begun pressuring devotees near the official box to hand over donations to them instead.

Upon learning of this, the Basnayake Nilame had lodged a complaint with the Kataragama Police, arguing that diverting funds from the official box amounts to fraudulent misappropriation.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested 02 custodians who were collecting offerings near the official box.

However, other custodians then surrounded the police station and pressured the officers to release the arrested individuals, resulting in their release.

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