UNSOLVED FOR MONTHS: Sri Lanka Cricket e-mail saga transfering funds to foreign accounts

Colombo (News 1st): A weekend newspaper reported on the incident where attempts were made to transfer money due to Sri Lanka Cricket for the granting of broadcasting rights, to another account based on a report compiled by an audit firm. The newspaper reported that the e-mail requesting the transfer of the money to a foreign account was sent by the official e-mail account of the head of the financial divisions of Sri Lanka Cricket. However, the exact computer used to send the e-mail has not yet been identified. The institution that conducted an audit on the matter said it does not appear that a cyber attack had been launched on the said e-mail account. Sri Lanka Cricket previously raised suspicions that such an attack would have been the case. It has been more than 8 months since we revealed details of an attempt to transfer money due to Sri Lanka Cricket to another account. However, Sri Lanka Cricket to date has not confirmed that the foreign accounts that the money was to be transferred to do not belong to SLC. It is also interesting that the two foreign bank accounts have been registered under the name Sri Lanka Cricket. The account numbers of one Mexican account with US dollars and another bank account were among the suspicious accounts. These incidents of money due to Sri Lanka Cricket for broadcasting rights being transferred to another account gives rise to many questions. Informing the institution that is paying for the broadcasting rights to transfer the money to another account simply to evade the payment of taxes to the government of Sri Lanka is a violation of the law. Section 189 of the Inland Revenue Act No. 24 of 2017 clearly states the penalty for anyone convicted of evading or attempting to evade payment of taxes.

So did the official who directed this institution to transfer money due to SLC to an external account violate the country's laws on taxation?

Can we be certain that such illicit transactions had not taken place at Sri Lanka Cricket in the past?

Director General of the Inland Revenue Department Nadun Guruge, this is over to you.