Two suspects including suspended Litro Gas Chairman Shalila Moonasinghe arrested in connection with the alleged transferring of USD 1.1 million from Far Eastern International Bank of Taiwan to their personal accounts in Sri Lanka were yesterday remanded till October 25 by the Colombo Fort Magistrate.
Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne refused bail for Moonasinghe taking into consideration the seriousness of the offence.
The CID had arrested the first suspect Janaka Chaminda Nammuni of Rajagiriya regarding the incident when he was attempting to withdraw Rs. 80 million from a local bank account,last Friday (6). The second suspect Shalila Moonasinghe was arrested on the charge of misappropriating Rs.30 million last Monday (9).
According to CID reports, the Far Eastern International Bank was hacked by means of a computer virus and some US$60 million was wired to the accounts of the suspects at a Sri Lanka bank in Colombo. The CID initiated an investigation following a complaint made by Bank of Ceylon about this fraudulent money transaction on October 6. The Taiwanese government had also taken a decision to send investigators to Sri Lanka to probe the cyber money heist.
At a previous occasion, Colombo Additional Magistrate Jeyaram Trotsky had issued an order to the Immigration and Emigration Controller preventing Shalila Moonasinghe from leaving the country in connection with the Taiwan bank heist.