Distillery company ordered to pay Rs. 1.35 billion in taxes

By Bhagya Silva

Colombo, May 28 (Daily Mirror) -Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Eelanga Singha today ordered the Randeniya Distilleries Company, based in Kadawatha, to pay Rs. 1.35 billion in taxes allegedly evaded between 2012 and 2015. 

The amount includes income tax, VAT, and the Nation Building Tax.

The order was pronounced by the Colombo Additional Magistrate Pavithra Sanjeewani in relation to the case filed by the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue against the Randeniya Distilleries Company when it was taken up in court. In this case, the prosecution alleges that the company deliberately avoided paying the due taxes to the government during the aforementioned period.

Directors of Randeniya Distilleries, Piumi Wijewikrama, Sarath Kumara Wijewikrama, Buddhika Wijewikrama and another female director have also been named as respondents in the case.

The case, which was filed last year, was heard before Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Eelanga Singha, who has ruled in his judgment that the respondent company is liable to pay the outstanding tax amount to the government.