Liquor producers owed the state over Rs 6,000 mn, though the Excise Department had estimated the amount to be recovered at Rs 600 mn according to SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.
The former Minister said that W.M. Mendis owed Rs 3,447 mn, Wayamba Distilleries Rs 560 mn, Wayamba Spirits Rs 260mn, Global Blenders Rs 1,148 mn, Mackland Breweries Rs 619 and Kalutara Cooperative Rs 17 mn.
Ranawaka, who is the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of Parliament.
He has called upon the Excise Department to collect the taxes that have gone into arrears. He has also called for the suspension of the licences of those companies. That is the only language the tax dodgers understood, he has said.
He has said the Execise Department head does not appear before his committee, and sends someone else who cannot make decisions.
Speaking at the last committee meeting, Ranawaka said all relevant docuemnts related to the lapses on the part of the Excise Department would be released to the public. He said the Excise Deparment personnel were giving kid glove treatment to the errant liquor manufacturers while the people were paying high taxes and struggling to make ends meet.