(UTV|COLOMBO) – The Finance Ministry yesterday said it had received reports that several organised groups of fraudsters had exploited the letterhead of the Ministry to send letters to loan applicants and institutions who had applied for loans under the Government’s Enterprise Sri Lanka saying that their loans had been approved.
According to this scam, these organised fraudster groups are said to have informed the unsuspected loan applicants who are seeking interest relief loans under Enterprise Sri Lanka program that their loans had been approved and requested them to pay a certain percentage of the expected loan in order to release the loan in full, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
“This Ministry already possesses evidence to prove that a group including an individual named Jayampathi Karunamuni, who is posing as the Director of the Clearance Unit of Loans of the Development Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, and another individual posing as Chandra Jayasinghe are said to have sent these fraudulent letters,” the Ministry said. “There is no such a division in the Finance Ministry.”
Under the Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme, only loan applications are registered by the Ministry of Finance. Apart from that, the Finance Ministry neither releases loans nor makes recommendations for any expectants.
The Ministry also reiterated that it did not charge any money for its role in this regard. The loans under Enterprise Sri Lanka are granted by State and private commercial banks only.
Therefore, the general public is requested to negotiate only with the permanent staff serving in the premises of the respective commercial banks with regard to obtaining loans under ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’.
“If any group or an individual demands any money saying that your loan has been approved, you are hereby noticed to inform of such fraudulent groups or individuals to the nearest Police station,” the Finance Ministry added. (DFT)
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