The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is on the lookout for nine more suspects in connection with the massive Rs. 263 million fraud, where funds were withdrawn from foreign credit card holders through an e-commerce application service provided by a leading state bank in the country.
The nine suspects were identified as Wilfred Rohan Senaratne of Boralesgamuwa -Secretary of the Sahana Foundation, Rasika De Alwis of Ratmalana -Treasurer of Sahana, Gamini Punyasiri De Soysa of Dehiwala - Treasurer of Sahana, Iyyadorei Mangalaraja of Gebilideniya, Padmakulasuriya Udathilaka Bandara of Battaramulla, Anura Sanath Weerasinghe of Udahamulla - Assistant Manager of the State Bank’s Card Centre, Thambapillai Jayadaran of Trincomalee, Sidambarapillai Karunaraja of Quebec, Canada and Ilandarigay Wijeratne of Hallawela South, Denagama.
The CID seeks the help of the public to identify the suspects in order to trace them. It is believed that they had gone underground and there were also reports that some of them may have fled the country.
The CID could be contacted on
0112320141, 0112320145, 0112422176 and 0112328043.
It was reported that the suspects obtained the Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) facility from the state-owned bank through two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) around the end of 2011 and they had received massive amounts of money as donations from foreign credit card holders for a period of one year.
The fraud had come to light after the foreign credit card holders complained to the credit card companies that their money had been fraudulently withdrawn without their knowledge.
The transactions had taken place on fake credit cards and the money in question had been deposited in bank accounts belonging to the Sahana Foundation and the Women and Children’s Development Foundation.
The CID also alleged that due to this international fraudulent transaction, the State bank had suffered a loss of Rs.263 million.
During investigations the CID was able to arrest 14 suspects in connection with the incident.
(Supun Dias)