The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has ordered the immediate payment of a huge amount of VAT arrears that Arjun Aloysius’s W.M. Mendis Company has failed to pay. W.M. Mendis and the directors of the company are alleged to have evaded paying a value-added tax of Rs. 5800 million. A case has been filed against it at the Colombo Additional Magistrate’s Court. Outstanding tax amount When the case was taken up for hearing before Colombo Additional Magistrate Oshadha Mikara Maharachchi, the director of Mendis Company, Arjun Aloysius, who is named as the defendant in the case, appeared in court. Counsel appearing for the directors of the defendant company told the court that a portion of the outstanding tax amount has already been paid. He pointed out that the assets of the defendant company have been seized, the relevant assets have been seized by banks and the documents for payment could not be found. Attorney Dinesh Perera, appearing for the Inland Revenue Department, stated that if the due taxes have been paid, the documents for the same should be submitted. He further argued that the claim that the due documents were not available is unacceptable. Adjournment to the 30th He continued to insist that since the deadline for payment of taxes has passed and a large amount of taxes have been evaded and arrears are pending, it is not possible to provide further relief to the defendant. Considering the arguments presented, the Additional Magistrate pointed out that the defendant company has exceeded the deadline for payment of taxes. Accordingly, he ordered the defendants to pay the due taxes immediately. He also ordered them to present their arguments at the next hearing on whether they will pay the taxes again without delay or not. Later, the magistrate ordered the case to be taken up again for hearing on September 30th.
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