The Carlton Sports Club has received tax concessions of more than Rs.200 million as a result of the budget proposal to ease import duty on racing cars, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) charged yesterday.

JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a news conference that it had been revealed that this club had been told of this concession even before the budget was presented in parliament.

He asked how the government revealed budget secrets before the Budget was presented in Parliament by the President who is also the Finance Minister.

Mr. Dissanayake said this club had imported two consignments of racing cars comprising Lamborghini, Porsche and Aston Martins at a cost of Rs.99 million.

He said this club had not only taken advantage of the prior knowledge on the easing of import duty in the budget proposals but had also evaded paying five other taxes including the Nation Building Tax, Airport and Port Development Levy and VAT. This had been done through the Car Net system.

Mr. Dissanayake said under this system, taxes are charged from importers but they are not expected to pay and it’s kept aside as a bank guarantee. This system he said is usually followed when vehicles are brought for development projects by foreign agencies where the taxes are set aside as a bank guarantee so that they complete the work witching the stipulated time frame.

“The Carlton Sports Club had used this system to avoid paying taxes,” he said and urged that the matter be investigated because Sri Lanka had lost more than Rs.200 million from this fraudulent act and how the tradition of keeping the budget proposals a secret had been violated with the sophisticated racing vehicles being  imported just prior to the Budget. (Yohan Perera)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)