A businessman arrested over the alleged illicit transfer of Rs. 24.85 billion in foreign currency out of Sri Lanka has been remanded until 1 October by Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama.
The suspect was named in court as Naina Mohomadu Mohomad, a resident of Colombo 12. The Criminal Investigation Department told the court he is being named as the seventh suspect in the case, Hiru News reported.
The prosecution case
State Counsel Oswald Perera, appearing for the prosecution, said the suspect had acted in the manner of the main suspects Mohamed Jeffrey and Mohomu Musammil Mohomad Inpas, establishing five dummy companies and serving as a director of Lucky Brand. The prosecution said he operated the scheme in collusion with corrupt bank officials and managed the activities of 72 of the 89 fraudulent companies examined so far, with five still to be investigated.
Opposing bail, the State Counsel said the suspect had transferred his property and vehicles to third parties, which would obstruct the continuing investigation if he were released.
The defence
Attorney-at-Law Prasad Silva, for the defence, said his client had sent no dollars abroad since last November and had cooperated fully with Sri Lanka Customs and the CID once the shell companies were uncovered. Counsel maintained that the transfers had been made to earn commissions on under-valued imports.
A note on the figure
Hiru’s report renders the sum as “24.85 billion US dollars.” That figure is not sustainable: it exceeds Sri Lanka’s annual imports several times over. The amount is Rs. 24.85 billion — as NewsFirst put it, Rs. 24.8 billion worth of US dollars — which converts to roughly US$75–85 million at current rates. That range matches the US$85 million in bogus-import foreign exchange fraud Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala disclosed to Parliament in June.
Background
The arrest was reported on Tuesday, when the Financial Crimes Investigation Division detained a 35-year-old man from Dam Street, Colombo 12 over transfers made through five of 89 companies that declared imports which never arrived. The address matches, though outlets have differed over which police division made the arrest, and over whether five or six companies were involved.
The wider investigation dates to transfers made between January 2023 and September 2025. In June the government gazetted rules requiring banks to assign a unique reference number to every import-related telegraphic transfer.
