Tuesday, August 18 2026
Tuesday, August 18 2026
MONETABRIEF – Sri Lanka authorities have arrested four executives from Seylan Bank, Sampath Bank, Union Bank and an ex-NTB Bank staffer over a foreign exchange transfer via advance payments, according to court proceedings.
One of the arrested executives had joined another bank at the time of the arrest.
The executives were arrested over allegations of opening accounts in an irregular manner for a money changer in Fort who had helped remitted out of the country as advanced payments for various individuals.
Sri Lanka has exchange controls, due to forex shortages coming from central bank printing money and capital transfers are not allowed.
As a result, Undiyal and other methods are used to transfer legally obtained money.
These transfers however have been made as prepayments for imports, which did not arrive or were undervalued.
It was alledged that the money changer had made payments to the bank executives for opening accounts ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 rupees.
It was alledged that 36 companies had been set up to transfer money.
Defence counsel had argued that their clients had collected documents and forwarded them to head office for approval and transfers were carried out and approved by senior officials.
They had neither capacity or nor ability to verify whether goods actually arrived. (Colombo/Aug18/2026)
| Sterling | 458.31 | Sell - |
| 3 month bill | 9.95 | 0.18 ▼ |
| 12-m bill | 10.20% | 0 - |
| Gold | $4035 | - - |
Comments
Be the first person to comment and join the debate