Three former DMT officials arrested over vehicle racket

Colombo, March 26 (Daily Mirror) - The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption arrested three former officials of the Department of Motor Traffic over their alleged involvement in an illegal vehicle registration racket.

The arrests were carried out today following an extensive investigation into irregularities within the department’s vehicle registration system.

According to investigators, the suspects had orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently register and transfer ownership of vehicles that did not have legitimate initial registrations in the official database. 

Accordingly, a former Development Assistant (Road Safety) was arrested on charges of entering fraudulent data into the department's database to facilitate the illegal transfer of three vehicles without legal registration while a former Investigation Assistant was charged with issuing illegal "Counter Numbers" (reference numbers) for the same three vehicles to bypass standard legal procedures

A former Assistant Commissioner was arrested on charges of granting official approval for the illegal transfers, effectively validating the fraudulent process.

The three suspects are due to be produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court later today.