The Financial Crimes Investigation Division has filed objections to bail for businessman Jiffry Mohamed and a second suspect in the alleged illegal transfer of Rs. 190 billion abroad, and Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama has remanded both men until 12 November.
The Magistrate said he would deliver his order on bail on 12 November, and remanded the two until then, the Daily Mirror reported on Thursday.
The case concerns money said to have been sent to foreign countries under the pretext of importing goods into Sri Lanka.
What investigators told court
The first and eighth suspects — the first being Jiffry Mohamed — were produced before court by prison officials. FCID officers informed the court that objections to granting them bail had been filed that day.
Officers set out four strands of continuing work:
- Steps are being taken to obtain final assessment reports and other documents required for the investigation into the import and export transactions, for submission to court.
- Statements will be recorded from individuals who helped establish the companies concerned and lay their foundations.
- Investigations continue into the involvement of the first and eighth suspects.
- Further inquiries are being conducted into whether any links exist between bank officials and the companies under investigation, with the relevant statements to be submitted to court.
Hiru News reported the same hearing, naming the same Magistrate, the same 12 November date and the same four strands of investigation.
Where this sits in the case
The Rs. 190 billion outflow case has moved through court repeatedly this autumn, and the direction of travel on bail has not been consistent.
Three suspects were further remanded in October while the International Monetary Fund said it had not discussed the alleged outflow with Colombo. Later that month a seventh suspect was bailed for want of evidence — the second suspect released in a week on that ground.
Customs has separately opened a gold trail in the same investigation, probing more than 80kg brought into the country on Jiffry Mohamed’s money. He was also granted bail in October on a separate money-laundering indictment, a month after being discharged from a drug case.
Thursday’s filing marks the investigators pushing in the opposite direction from those bail releases — formally objecting rather than leaving the question to court.
Not reported
Neither filing names the eighth suspect, states how many suspects there are in total, or gives the companies involved.
Neither reports what the “final assessment reports” are or who is preparing them, how much of the Rs. 190 billion has been traced, or whether any bank officials have been questioned or named. Neither says what grounds the FCID advanced in its objections.
