Since 2019, court proceedings against Nation Lanka Finance and Singhe Capital Finance has been ongoing at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, with over 1000 depositors claiming they have been defrauded into investing millions with no returns up to date.
Last Friday (20), a silent protest was held in front of the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, demanding for justice and the return of the depositors capital fund.
The NewsdeskSL spoke to one of the depositors, who said that he had invested funds into a fund initiated by Nation Lanka Finance, but was never informed that it was in collaboration with Singhe Finance.
“I invested all my savings into a fund initiated by Nations Lanka Finance. I received the first interest installment, and then thereafter nothing. When I approached the institution to ask what is happening, they spoke about Singhe Capital Finance. I said, I was never spoken to about Singhe Capital Finance, I don’t care about them, I invested at Nation Lanka Finance and I want my capital rate back, ” he said.
He further noted that he has lost faith in the judiciary and does not expect anything more than the initially deposited amount.
One protestors placard read “Horunta Sepa, Apita Duka”.
Legal proceedings are ongoing regarding a complaint filed in the Negombo Magistrate’s Court against 10 individuals, including the Chairman and Directors of Nation Lanka Finance and Singha Capital Investments, for allegedly defrauding depositors by falsely promising high-interest returns.
The complaint states that these companies misled investors by assuring them of high-interest earnings, collecting a significant amount of money through fixed deposits. Nation Lanka Finance Chairman, Mr. Victor Rajamanar Ramanan, has been summoned by the Negombo Police for further questioning related to case number B 560/25.
Investigations reveal that Singha Capital Finance and Nation Lanka Finance, in collaboration, has defrauded a large number of depositors, and the company has failed to pay interest and matured deposit funds as promised, leaving many fixed depositors with absolutely nothing in returns.
Nation Lanka Finance is a financial institution whose deposit-taking license has been suspended by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Police investigations have uncovered that Nation Lanka Finance had then established another institution under the name of Singha Capital Investments to collect funds from depositors.
Meanwhile, in 2015, Nation Lanka Finance released a media statement vehemently denying all allegations, noting that complaints and allegations were only to dis reddit their Chairman Victor Ramanan, a British National.
“Our attention has been drawn to several newspaper articles and articles on social media that convey false, inaccurate, unjustifiable, and malicious statements that relate to the Nation Lanka Finance PLC and its Chairperson Mr. Victor Ramanan and the Board of Directors,” a statement released by the company said.
The statement further added that the articles were making reference to two pending cases in the Magistrate’s Court in Negomba and Colombo.“Some of the articles refer to the two pending cases in the Magistrate’s Court of Negombo and the Magistrate’s Court of Colombo, namely, Magistrate’s Court of Negombo Case No. 560/25 and Magistrate’s Court of Colombo Case No. 53896/1/25.”
“We vehemently deny such allegations, and this press release is issued to correct the false, inaccurate, unjustifiable, and maliciously published newspaper reports, social media reports. The first case, namely, Magistrate’s Court of Negombo Case No. 560/25, was instituted on or around 10 January, based on several complaints that had been made to the Miscellaneous Offences Branch of Negombo Police, regarding the acceptance of deposits by the some of the employees attached to the Negombo Branch office of Nation Lanka Finance PLC on behalf of Singhe Capital Investment Ltd. Moreover, in every instance, the funds accepted as deposits had gone to the bank of Singhe Capital Investment Ltd., and no money had been deposited with Nation Lanka Finance PLC. Accordingly, six suspects involved in the said fraudulent mechanisms were named as suspects in the MC Negombo case. The facts that emanate from the proceedings of the Negombo Magistrate’s Court affirm the above.Since some of the employees of Nation Lanka Finance PLC have been involved in these transactions, Nation Lanka Finance PLC made a complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.By reason of the aforesaid complaint to the CID, the CID had decided to take over the investigation since several other complaints had been received by the CID pertaining to officials of Singhe Capital Investments Ltd. accepting such deposits in different parts of Sri Lanka, adopting the same mechanism, and misusing officers of Nation Lanka Finance PLC.” the statement read.
Despite the refutations by Nation Lanka, the CBSL had appointed Mr. P. W. D. N. R. Rodrigo, under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act, No. 17 of 2023, to run from January 4, 2026 to July 3, 2026, which was then extended for an additional period to ensure uninterrupted continuation of the company’s resolution process.
Court proceedings are still ongoing, yet justice lingers behind for the victims of Nation Lanka Finance and Singhe Capital Finance, who now claim to be medically ill due to the stress and burdens they have now accumulated over the years of attending court.
Their only hope is for the judiciary to watch as the victims stand in silent protest against the injustices they have faced, to hear their plight and deliver a fair judgement without delay.
This is just only of many financial fraud cases currently being heard in Sri Lanka courtrooms, with some cases being heard for over 10 years with no judgement delivered.
Despite the CBSL warnings against being conned by several banned institutions and operations, citizens still fall victim to illegal and banned financial operations.
