A former Assistant Commissioner of Inland Revenue was sentenced to 14 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to involvement in the Rs.3.9 billion VAT scam.
He was sentenced to 14 months in prisons and fined a sum of Rs 500,000 by Colombo High Court Judge Kumudini Wickramasinghe, and will serve an additional two years in jail if failed to pay the fine.
Another defendant in the VAT fraud case was also sentenced to two years in prison and fined Rs 60 million.
A complaint was filed with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in 2006 regarding the fraud of almost Rs 4 billion which had occurred in the Inland Revenue Department between 2002 and 2004.
Following investigations the CID had filed cases against 14 defendants with Colombo High Court and while 6 suspects were arrested over the fraud 8 are said to be currently living abroad.
Three of the arrested suspects had pleaded guilty when the case was taken up on April 12, and they were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
Meanwhile open warrants have been issued for the 8 suspects who are broad and Interpol assistance was sought to arrest them.
