Excise Commissioner General admits massive revenue leak due to ruses adopted by toddy manufacturers

By Chaminda Silva

Excise Commissioner General Ariyadasa Bodaragama yesterday admitted that there was a significant loss of excise revenue due to various tactics used by toddy manufacturers.

Commissioner General Bodaragama made the admission addressing the media conference at the Excise Headquarters in Rajagiriya.

“I am not certain that the amount is around Rs. 80 billion, but I am sure there is a loss of tax revenue,” the Commissioner General said, responding to questions from journalists who pointed out that Matara District SJB MP Buddhika Pathirana had repeatedly raised in Parliament that there was an annual loss of Rs. 80 billion to government coffers.

Bodaragama said that there was no attempt to issue a new liquor manufacturing licence contrary to rumours. “I assure you no new liquor licences will be issued without permission from the President.”

Deputy Excise Commissioner Kapila Kumarasinghe said that the highest amount of liquor in the country is being sold in 85 milliliter bottles commonly known as quarters. “We had a meeting at the Ministry of Environment with Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera presiding. There we came to know that around 60 percent of quarters were recycled. We are planning to launch a project together with the Central Environmental Authority, and local government bodies to prevent the ‘quarters’ being disposed of haphazardly. As a first step towards this, we are introducing a compulsory deposit system so that the purchaser of the liquor would be made to pay a deposit for each quarter bottle he buys and that would be redeemed only when he returns the bottle.”