LNP - Court rejects Arjun Aloysius’ appeal against prison sentence

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has rejected an appeal submitted by the Director of W.M. Mendis Distilleries Arjun Aloysius and two others, to be forwarded to the Colombo High Court, seeking to invalidate the prison sentence imposed on them by the court this morning (14) over VAT evasion. Through this appeal, the defendants have also requested permission to pay the due taxes in installments, Ada Derana reporter said. The Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Ilangasinghe had sentenced the Director of W.M. Mendis Distilleries, Arjun Aloysius and two others to 06 months in prison for defaulting the payment of Rs. 3.5 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT) by the company, when the case was taken up today. The relevant case was filed against the company by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) for defaulting the payment of Rs. 3.5 billion in taxes owed to the government during the period from 2016 to 2019.