Digging further deep into the ongoing controversy over pasting forged security stickers on liquor bottles as per the requirement of the Department of Excise, the Minister of Justice said the racket is now causing a Rs.60 billion loss to the government.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe making a statement at the Parliament during the third reading of the budget for 2023 said prior to the introduction of the security sticker feature in 2017 the Excise Department was incurring a tax revenue loss of Rs.40 billion to the government owing to counterfeit products entering the market.
However, the tender for printing the stickers had been awarded to a notorious company called Madras Security Printers (MSP) by the authorities even though the said company was known to be blacklisted in three countries in the world.
“If this company issues 10 million genuine security stickers to the Excise Department it will issue 20 million fake stickers to the private sector. I have prepared to file a case in the Court of Appeal against this fraudulent company yet I couldn’t complete that work. To recover a loss of Rs.40 billion the authorities introduced this scheme, which has lead to a loss of Rs.60 billion annually,” Minister Rajapakshe said.
The Justice Minister was responding to a statement made by Opposition Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana who said the top officials in the Finance Ministry and the Excise Department is responsible for awarding the tender to a blacklisted company.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Pathirana who is running a continuous struggle in the House against the security sticker racket said certain liquor manufacturing companies in the private sector use these fake stickers on their products which were chiefly made of chemically enhanced toddy.
The contract period awarded to this infamous company is coming to an end soon but Excise officials are trying to give it back to the same company to earn an extra buck. (Daily Mirror)