, that a system should be set up with criteria for verifying how money had been earned when compensation is paid to properties, houses and buildings that have been damaged in recent arson and violence, suggests Prashantha Abeykoon, a Chartered and Financial Accountant.
He added that there was a need for a programme that would make it mandatory to submit income tax returns, asset and liability declarations, businesses’ annual accounts, and insurance information, in particular.
He points out that MPs, ministers and politicians own the vast majority of the property set on fire and destroyed, and that if any of them had undisclosed assets, there was a possibility of ‘black money laundering’ by paying compensation for them.
Mr Abeykoon said such a space should never exist and that these criteria should be formulated as a vital component of the compensation process. He has made these comments in response to a question raised by a journalist at a media briefing of the ‘March 12 Movement’ held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on the 25th.
