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Sakvithi Ranasinghe
Sri Lankan fraudster From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Abhaya Ranasinghe Arachchilage Chandana Weerakumara; (Sinhala: සක්විති රණසිංහ), known as Sakvithi Ranasighe is a popular English teacher in Sri Lanka.
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Early life
Weerakumara was the youngest of the 5 children of single mother H.T.D Chandra Latha. He took his primary education at D. S. Senanayake College Colombo 7.[3] Being the only child who was successful in education, Weerakumara started conducting English Language tuition in Rathmalana under the alias "Sakvithi Ranasighe". Within a short period of time, he became a famous English tutor in the island with the use of aggressive advertising campaigns and paid television programs.[4] He used the controversial slogan "Mama iganweematama Upannemi" meaning "I was born to teach".[5]
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Financial Scams
As a result of the fame and financial success gained from his teaching, in the year 2003, Sakvithi Ranasighe started a company called "S. R. Property Sharing Investment (Private) Limited" which claimed of giving attractive dividends for its depositors.[6] Subsequently, Ranasinghe started another company called "Sakvithi Constructions" which was supposedly engaged in buying and selling of properties. Later, it was revealed that he was engaged in selling lands by making counterfeit land deeds. Based on numerous complains from the victims, on September 26, 2008, Sakvithi scam was busted by Central Bank following further investigations. On the same month, the Police has announced that Sakvithi Ranasinghe has fled the country to Chennai, India. Later, it was estimated that total of Rs.1,060 million belonging to 2,135 depositors was missing along with him.[7]
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Arrest
In August 2010, Ranasinghe and his wife were arrested by Mirihana Police when he was disguised in Nawagamuwa.[8] Criminal Investigation Department of Sri Lanka was carrying out the investigation and he was remanded by a Court ruling of Nugegoda Magistrate.[9][10] Further investigations revealed that most of the money he swindled were spent while gambling in casinos such as MGM, Bellagio and Baylies regularly with his associates.[2][11]
Sentence
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