The operations of bank accounts of all 28 companies within the Perpetual Group– associated with Arjun Aloysius, a key suspect in the controversial Central Bank bond scams—have been frozen with immediate effect by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Sunday Times reported.
The directive was issued on Wednesday to banks in which the accounts reside and was pursuant to available “intelligence” that Perpetual, beneficiary of questionable bond transactions that are under investigation, was taking steps to siphon funds.
The suspension means that none of the 28 companies within the group can carry out financial business of any sort through their bank accounts.
The authorities will now begin vetting each of the accounts so that the suspension could be eased to facilitate the group’s routine activities such as payment of salaries to employees. Lawful transactions will be permitted, the sources said, adding that the action taken this week was an urgent move to prevent money laundering.
Among the companies in the group are Perpetual Treasuries (Pvt) Ltd, Perpetual Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd, Perpetual Capital Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, W M Mendis & Co Ltd and Integrated Media Networks (Pvt) Ltd. The concern also has large shareholdings in various other listed entities
