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Recommencing Mendis’ operations: Strict conditions on Aloysius' venture   

03 Jul 2021

  • Due taxes with interest as instalments  

  • Present taxes to be paid every 15 days 

 By Yoshitha Perera      The Excise Department has permitted liquor manufacturing company W.M. Mendis & Co. Ltd, owned by Arjun Aloysius of the Perpetual Group, to re-commence its operations by signing an agreement under strict conditions to repay its defaulted taxes with the legal interests owed to the Government, The Sunday Morning learnt.  Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Excise Commissioner Kapila Kumarasinghe said the Department had entered into an agreement with the liquor manufacturer to repay its due taxes with interests as instalments according to particular time frames.  He said: “We had mentioned in the agreement that the company has to pay due taxes with interests as instalments and every 15 days they have to pay the present tax as well. According to the agreement, the liquor manufacturer had requested to re-commence its operations and they had paid the first instalment when entering into the agreement.”  W.M. Mendis & Co. Ltd. lost its license to produce liquor in 2018 due to its failure to pay taxes on time. It has been reported that the company has defaulted tax payments amounting to Rs. 580 million by December 2017 and there was an outstanding payment of Rs. 720 million. It was also reported that part of the amount had been settled before the licence was revoked.  However, explaining further, Kumarasinghe said that the operations of the W.M. Mendis & Co. Ltd were suspended for various reasons including default payments of tax.   He said: “There are other key liquor manufacturing companies that owed huge amounts to the Government as taxes but no one is talking about that.”  Kumarasinghe said the Excise Department has to implement a strategy that could provide maximum benefit to the Government and that is the main reason to sign an agreement with one of the oldest liquor manufactures in the country.   


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