"Shade of Procare" defrauds depositors of over Rs. 600 million

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) informed the Colombo Magistrate's Court today (22) that "Shade of Procare," an illegal pyramid scheme, has defrauded depositors of over Rs. 600 million by offering online jobs.

The CID presented an investigative progress report to the court regarding the case.

During the hearing, Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama ordered that the foreign travel ban on the company's chairman, Professor Manjula Ranasinghe, be temporarily lifted for a period of one month.

The suspect's lawyer requested that the court grant a one-month leave for the suspect to travel abroad. The magistrate ordered the suspect to deposit a cash bail of Rs. 500,000 and two personal bails of Rs. 2.5 million each to have the travel ban lifted.

The company's director and CEO, Amila Viraj Galappaththi, who were also involved in the incident, have already been released on bail.

The suspects were arrested and produced before the court by the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the CID.

CID officials appearing in court stated that the company had defrauded applicants by charging Rs. 21,500 from each person with the false promise of providing online jobs.

Investigators informed the court that the public was misled through various media channels with false promises of providing jobs once the number of applicants reached 500,000.

The CID also informed the court that investigations are underway to identify other suspects involved in the online scam.