News

Rs. 904 bn. arrears amount due to IRD – COPA

Published

3 weeks ago

May 16, 2023

editor

It was revealed at during a meeting of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that the total arrears of taxes, penalties and interest due to the Inland Revenue Department by December 31, 2022 in relation to RAMIS and Legacy systems is Rs. 904,342,180,778 (904 billion).

It was disclosed that an amount of Rs. 163,425,093,401 (163 billion) has been identified as income that can be collected without any legal concern and that Rs. 740,917,087,377 (740 billion) has been identified as income that has been temporarily suspended due to certain reasons.

The Auditor General also pointed out that this amount has been identified as the total arrears of tax to be collected under both RAMIS and Legacy systems and there was a discussion at length about not collecting the revenue due that could be collected off this tax arrears.

The Chair of this Committee, State Minister – Lasantha Alagiyawanna, recommended that a report be given to COPA with dates containing information on how to collect the tax arrears identified as chargeable income which can be collected least in installments. The Chair also recommended that a separate report should be given on the total outstanding tax amount of 904 billion rupees and the report should state in detail how taxes have been evaded and the reasons for such.

This was disclosed when the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) met recently (12) under the Chairmanship of State Minister – Lasantha Alagiyawanna for the reviewing of the current performance and progress of the Inland Revenue Department which was summoned before COPA on the 28th of November 2022.

It was also discussed that the RAMIS computer system was not at a proper level of operation and that there were no trained personnel to operate the system once it was set up. Therefore, the need to prepare a suitable program for that was mentioned here.

Furthermore, the existence of return cheques worth 2,488,003,615 rupees (2.4 billion) as at 30 June 2022 according to COPA discussion held on 28.11.2022 was also discussed. The officials who were present pointed out that 90% of tax payments are made through the Bank of Ceylon and even though the tax payments are approved on the day they are paid, they are shown as return cheques the next day. Accordingly, the Chair of the Committee contacted the Chairman of Bank of Ceylon via phone during the Committee and gave relevant instructions.

A discussion was also held regarding taxation on the gross collection for the casino business.

State Minister – Diana Gamage, Members of Parliament – Niroshan Perera, J. C. Alawathuwala, Sivagnanam Sritharan, Hector Appuhamy, Isuru Dodangoda and (Dr.) (Ms.) Harini Amarasuriya were present at the Committee meeting held.

News

Litro slashes gas cylinder prices

Published

33 mins ago

June 3, 2023

editor

Litro Gas Lanka, one of the country’s two leading suppliers of domestic Liquefied Petroleum (LP) gas, has decided to slash the prices of its products.

The price reduction will be effective from midnight tomorrow (June 04), according to Litro chairman and CEO Muditha Peiris.

News

Three state bank employees arrested for stealing pawned gold jewellery

Published

39 mins ago

June 3, 2023

editor

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested three employees of a state bank in Oddamavadi for stealing pawned gold jewellery to the tune of LKR 20 million.

According to the police, among the arrestees are the deputy manager, operations manager and the service assistant of the said state bank.

The trio is accused of stealing pawned 873g of gold jewellery from the safety-deposit box of the state bank.

The CID team had initiated probes into the matter after receiving a complaint about several pieces of gold jewellery that had gone missing from the depository of the bank.

An individual, upon visiting the bank to retrieve the gold jewellery he had pawned in November last year to obtain a loan, had learned that the items were, in fact, missing. After conducting an inspection, the bank employees realized that 13 packets of gold jewellery have been disappeared from the depository.

The bank’s management has suspended the duties of the deputy manager over the incident.

During the interrogations, he had confessed that two other female employees – an operations manager and a service assistant – too were complicit in the theft. They were later placed under arrest by the CID investigators.

They had used the depository keys which were in their possession to steal the gold jewellery on three occasions.

After stealing 13 packets of gold jewellery, the trio had sold them to gold jewellery shops in the area for LKR 13.7 million out of which LKR 5.7 million was retained by the deputy manager to settle a loan. The operations manager, meanwhile, held on to LKR 5 million, which she deposited in a bank for her daughter. The service assistant had purchased a three-wheeler and a piece of land from the LKR 3 million she received.

The trio was remanded until June 16 after being produced before the Valachchenai Magistrate’s Court on Friday (June 02).

News

3 sluice gates of Kukule Ganga reservoir opened

Published

13 hours ago

June 2, 2023

editor

Three of the four sluice gates of Kukule Ganga reservoir were opened this evening (June 02) as heavy rains were experienced in the catchment areas.

The authorities have advised the people living in low-lying areas of the Kukule Ganga reservoir to be on alert of possible floods.

It is reported that the water levels of the reservoir have increased at an alarming rate after the downpours in the water catchment areas.

Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department issued an ‘Amber’ flood warning for the upper catchment areas of Kuda Ganga sub-basin of Kalu River after heavy rainfall was received.