An SMS tip-off sent by a female employee of Lanka Sathosa has led to the suspension of four senior officials of the state-owned enterprise for their involvement in a scam involving imported garlic.
The officials are reported to have misused the Cabinet approval granted for imported essential food items to be distributed to Lanka Sathosa by claiming several containers of imported garlic based on false entries registered on the company’s logbook.
The corrupt actions of the four officials were brought to the attention of the Chairman of the Lanka Sathosa via an SMS sent to him by a female employee of the state-owned institution.
Investigations launched into the matter had found that the officials had sold one kilo of garlic which was priced at Rs. 320 for a discounted price of Rs. 135 to third-party sellers. They had reportedly sold nearly 56,000 kilos of garlic in this manner.
The Consumer Affairs Authority and the Police are conducting further investigations into the garlic scam. (NewsWire)