The Ministry of Finance in a statement today said that they have received reports that several organised groups of fraudsters have exploited the letter head of the Ministry to send letters to loan applicants and institutions who have applied for loans under the Government’s Enterprise Sri Lanka credit schemes saying that their loans have been approved.
According to this scam, these organised fraudster groups is said to have informed the unsuspecting loan applicants who are seeking subsidized loans under the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme, that their loans are approved and, have requested them to pay a certain percentage of the expected loan in order to release the loan in full.
This ministry said that they possess 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.
Finance Ministry spokesperson said that 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 release loans nor make recommendations for any prospective loan applicants.
The Ministry also reiterates that it does not charge any money for its role in this regard. The loans under the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme are granted by State and Private Commercial banks only.
Therefore, the general public are requested to negotiate only with the permanent staffs that are 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 you 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 said that they have given out LKR 88 billion in loans to more than 55,000 entrepreneurs under the programme initiated by Finance Mangala Samaraweera.
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