Eon Lanka owner remanded over defrauding depositors of Rs. 10 bn
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): The owner of Eon Lanka Investment and Film Production Financial Company has been remanded by the Wariyapola Magistrate Court this week over an alleged financial misappropriation of around Rs10 billion of depositors money.
A group of customers who invested money in a firm called Eon Lanka has complained to the Inspector General of Police C.D. Wickramaratne that the owner of the financial institution which was sealed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka two years ago has defrauded Rs.9.91 billion.
A large number of retirees, including those of the three armed forces and the police, have deposited money in the institution in Kurunegala which remained open from 2013 to 2020.
Wariyapola Magistrate Rasika Mallawaarachchi yesterday ordered the remand of owner of Eon Lanka Investment and Film Production Financial Company Attapattu Mudiyanselage Dhammika Attapattu over defrauding 8,000 people of money running into Rs 10 billion by promising higher interest, till November 1.
The suspected businessman, who is said to have been in hiding for almost two years after defrauding people of money, was arrested at a house located in Kandy by the Criminal Investigation.
The Police Media Spokesperson’s Office stated that this person had been the director and shareholder of this financial institution.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday (26) by the officers of the Financial and Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the CID. They also stated that Rs. 9,900 million had been defrauded by this person.
The Police Media Spokesperson’s Office stated further that charges of criminal misappropriation of money and breach of trust have been levelled against this person and he has also laundered the money thus earned.
Claiming to pay a high rate of interest, the suspected businessman had been operating the relevant financial institution at his home in Hanhamuna and taken cash deposits of various amounts ranging from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 10 million and then committed this large-scale financial fraud by not returning the interest and money due for those deposits to the customers.
The Central Bank has imposed a ban on his illegal money transactions and published public notices banning those transactions in the newspapers.
A financial fraud case has also been filed against him in the Colombo High Court and it is currently being heard without the suspect’s attendance.
