SJB demands to know what action govt. will take against Aloysius

By Saman Indrajith

The SJB yesterday demanded to know what action would be taken against W. M. Mendis & Co Ltd owner controversial businessman Arjun Aloysius, who should have been incarcerated for the Treasury bond scam. 

 “He should have been arrested for the Treasury bond scams. But the government recently permitted him to resume operations of his liquor company saying that it had been done to recover the company’s dues to the government. Now, we know that the licence has been suspended again. How does the government propose to recover the money he owes to the state?” SJB Colombo District MP S.M. Marikkar queried. 

MP Marikkar said that WM Mendis Company owed the state Rs 1.1 billion in excise taxes, Rs. 3.55 billion VAT and Rs 2.63 billion income taxes. In addition, the company had to pay five billion rupees to the People’s Bank, seven billion rupees to the Bank of Ceylon and 800 million rupees to the People’s Leasing Company. This company owes more than 17 billion to the government coffers. How are you going to recover this money? He should have been behind bars for the Treasury bond scams but instead the government tried to give his license back,” the MP said.

Earlier in the day, addressing the post-cabinet press briefing Co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr Ramesh Pathirana, said that the Cabinet had decided to suspend the licence of WM Mendis Company to prevent funds earned through undue means to find their way into the state coffers.

Minister Pathirana said that businessman, Aloysius, was responsible for a massive financial scam, and the ministers had pointed out that money earned through fraudulent means would be used by Aloysius to pay his dues. The Cabinet of Ministers were of the opinion that Aloysius should not be permitted to use such funds to legitimize his other businesses and then to continue to earn through them. The licence had not been suspended as a proposal to the Cabinet but as a result of instructions issued by the Cabinet to the Finance Ministry, the minister told the post-Cabinet press briefing.

On Monday, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to cancel the licence issued to W. M. Mendis & Co Ltd to resume operations. The decision was taken on the advice of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. W. M. Mendis & Co Ltd lost its licence to produce liquor in 2018 for failing to pay taxes due to the state.