In a significant ruling, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court has sentenced three individuals, including Arjun Aloysius, the Director of W.M. Mendis Distilleries Company, to six months in prison for VAT evasion. The Inland Revenue Department brought the case against the defendants for failing to pay 3.5 billion rupees in VAT owed to the government from 2016 to 2019.
The court had previously issued an order on November 14 of last year requiring the respondents to settle the outstanding taxes. Today, the case was presented before Colombo Additional Magistrate Mr. Bandara Ilangasinghe, who imposed the sentence due to the respondent’s failure to pay the due amount within the stipulated timeframe.
