🏛️ Commercial High Court Orders Recovery of Rs. 29 Mn at Spark Air Engineering

The Commercial High Court of Colombo ruled that the affairs of Spark Air Engineering Ltd. were conducted in a manner prejudicial to the company's interests following a forensic audit into a US$ 254,500 deposit. Key highlights of the court ruling: • Misappropriated Deposit Funds: Respondent Samin Attanayake was found responsible for misappropriating Rs. 9.4 Mn from a non-refundable deposit paid by MACKA Invest Company Ltd. He was ordered to compensate the company within three months. • Unexplained Payments: Court noted Rs. 24.7 Mn was paid to Attanayake against a Rs. 1 Mn advance. Due to a lack of evidence justifying the excess Rs. 14.7 Mn, an adverse inference was drawn under the Evidence Ordinance. • Share Recovery: 19,553 shares valued at Rs. 19.553 Mn issued to Attanayake’s son, Thisen Semal Attanayake, showed no record of payment. Directors were ordered to list this as a liability and recover the funds within six months. • Governance Failure: Court cited other directors for failing to safeguard funds and delaying audit requests. Legal costs were awarded to the petitioner, Director Rameez Mahamoor, payable jointly by the 2nd to 6th respondents.