Alleged misappropriation of Rs 195 mn:

The CID informed Fort Magistrate Court that British citizen Kathiravelpillai Satkunam admitted to have pocketed the broker’s fee in a case involving approximately Rs 195 mn, which been fraudulently obtained from a group of shareholders following the sale of a plot of land at Kollupitiya, the majority shareholder being a UK-based limited liability company.

Latest court papers filed indicated that the accused Kathiravelpillai Satkunam of 43, Hays Walk, Sutton, an affluent suburb in the United Kingdom, in his statement to the CID’s Commercial Crime Investigation Division, admitted that he misappropriated a large portion out of a sum of LKR 131mn in 2010.

Further to our report on 31 May 2023 on the alleged misappropriation of LKR 195mn, a further hearing was held of case reference 8919/2018 at the Fort Magistrate Court on 13 September 2023. The hearing was held in open court with the primary suspect Kathirvelpillai Satkunam physically present in the dock.

The B Report submitted by the CID states that according to the statement recorded from K. Satkunam the land owned by Access Direct Colombo Limited was sold to DR Industries (Private) Limited, and Milroy Perera was the broker. The suspect stated that after the land sale, Rupees 131,718,000/- was allocated to Milroy Perera as broker fees and only a part of it was paid. The remaining money was deposited in the Nationwide Bank account in England believed to be K. Satkunam’s.

The B Report further states that on 17 August 2023, the suspect K. Satkunam came to the Criminal Investigation Department with Mr Gayan Kalatuawa, Attorney-at-Law and Mr. Buddhika Karunananda, Attorney-at-Law and gave a voluntary statement, in addition to the statements recorded earlier.

In that latest statement following facts were revealed: the land at No. 586, Galle Road was sold for 3.6 million rupees a perch and it has been stated that an amount of Rupees 595,507,571/- was transferred to Access Direct UK Limited.

The 17 May 2023 hearing Court papers revealed that the CID had recorded a statement from another fellow shareholder of Access Direct UK Ltd, Mr Shanmugasunderam Surendran known as Shawn Surendran. At present he works for Riverstone Corporation Ltd, SPC House, Restmor way, Wallington, Surrey, United Kingdom. His statement was recorded at Bogala Court, Colombo 5. He invested hundred thousand pounds initially at Access Direct UK Ltd and then a further thirty seven thousand pounds. He reported on February 23, 2011 to the rest of shareholders on behalf of the primary suspect Mr. K. Satkunam that the land was disinvested for Rs 658m. He told the CID that he got the figure from Mr Ron Smith of Wilkins Kennedy a firm of accountants in the UK. He also told the CID that he wasn’t aware that the land was actually sold for Rs 790m.

The Magistrate granted permission to the CID to continue with the investigation. Travel ban on Mr K Satkunam was lifted temporarily, until the next court appearance on December 13, 2023 on condition that two sureties of Rs 10m and property bail worth Rs 10m to be placed in addition to the existing two sureties, each value of Rs 5m, in total of Rs 30m.

The CID’s Commercial Crime Investigation Division has been investigating the complaint about purchasing 219.5 perches of land on Galle Road, Kollupitiya, in 2004. Ten shareholders of a UK-based company, Access Direct UK Ltd, had invested 1.3 million sterling pounds in purchasing the land through a wholly-owned registered subsidiary company in Sri Lanka, Access Direct Colombo Ltd. This land had then been sold in July 2010.

The CID’s investigation uncovered that the land was sold for Rs 790 million. It has been established that only Rs 595,507,721 of the money received from the sale of the land was sent to Access Direct UK Ltd. It is alleged that the remaining Rs 194,800,279 had been obtained fraudulently, and the amount had been misused in a criminal breach of trust.