An individual who cheated various business entities and people out of money by falsely posing as a senior official of the Inland Revenue Department was arrested, the Kompannavidiya Police state.

The suspect was arrested in the Galgamuwa police division the day before yesterday (27) following a lengthy investigation conducted according to a complaint made to the Kompannavidiya Police Station by the Inland Revenue Department on June 05, the police say.

A 50-year-old resident of the Thambuttegama area was arrested in this manner.

Police investigations revealed that the suspect gave phone calls to entities that pay taxes regularly, introducing himself as an officer of the Inland Revenue Department.

He then acted to get money deposited from those entities into his bank account fraudulently, stating that he had a personal urgent requirement, the police say.

The suspect is also someone who was previously arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) regarding a similar large-scale money fraud, the police said.

The court issued orders to release the arrested suspect on two personal bails of 500,000 rupees each after he was presented to the Aluthkade Chief Magistrate's Court yesterday (28), the police mentioned.

The case is scheduled to be called again on July 06, and officers of the Kompannavidiya Police Station conduct further investigations regarding the incident.