Sri Lanka's police may be asked to investigate the 65 individuals named in the Panama Papers if they fail to respond within two weeks to a government notice, Finance Minister said.
"We are going to write to each and every person or company identified in the Panama Papers, We will give them two weeks to respond, and failing which, we will report them to the FCID (Polices Financial Crimes Investigation Division)," Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said last night.
This will be done in the event of their failure to respond to government probe.
The names of 65 Sri Lankans figure in the Panama Papers released on the Internet, according to reports. Those named include Nissanka Senadhipathi, a businessman with links to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Senadhipathi, whose firm Avant Garde was investigated by the current government for running a floating armory in the southern port of Galle, has publicly denied that he had maintained an offshore account.
According to documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, Senadhipathi incorporated an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands with three others.
Finance Minister Karunanayake last week said that the government is setting up a special panel to chase the nationals likely to figure in the Panama Papers.
Sri Lankan law allows nationals to set up offshore operations, but it must be declared to the Inland Revenue Department and the Exchange Control department of the Central Bank. The failure to do so will be liable for prosecution under the Inland Revenue Act, exchange control laws and anti- money laundering legislation.
