CID tells Court no criminal offence in sugar tax reduction in 2020

Monday, 16 June 2025 04:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) last week informed the Colombo Magistrate’s Court that the Attorney General has concluded that no criminal offence had occurred in the process of reducing the special commodity levy on imported sugar from Rs. 50 to 25 cents per kilogram, a decision made four years ago.

Further investigations have been recommended to determine if any party or individual had gained undue benefit or committed acts of bribery or corruption in connection with the tax cut.

This information was presented before Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera during the proceedings related to the ongoing investigations into whether the benefit from the sugar tax reduction, which came into effect at midnight on 13 October 2020, was passed on to the public or wrongfully accrued by certain individuals or groups.

The CID, citing the Attorney General’s opinion, stated that although no criminal wrongdoing has been identified in the decision-making process of the tax reduction itself, the Attorney General has advised further inquiries to ascertain whether anyone received an illegal benefit, bribe or had engaged in corrupt transactions in relation to the policy decision.

After reviewing the Attorney General’s guidance and related documents submitted by the CID, the Additional Magistrate instructed the CID to hand over all relevant reports, files and evidence to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). The Magistrate emphasised that CIABOC should continue the probe to identify whether any public officials or private individuals had committed offenses involving bribery or illicit gains as a result of the sugar tax reduction.

The case arises from a complaint lodged by former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Mahinda Siriwardena, prompting the CID to launch an investigation. At the time, numerous parties alleged that the Government incurred a loss exceeding Rs. 16 billion as a result of the tax cut and that the expected benefits were not passed on to the public, sparking claims of large-scale sugar tax fraud.

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