It is also said that the leaders of Sri Lanka's Independence movement once made a delegation of British officers who apparently had doubts about the eligibility of Sri Lankans for universal suffrage meet a group of local farmers on the way to Kandy and elicit their views on the matter. The 'natives' covered with mud told the Englishmen in Queen's English that Sri Lanka deserved universal franchise. The British did not know that the farmers they interviewed were a group of well educated Brown Sahibs!

But, it is not seldom that the wily Sri Lankans become easy prey to con artists. A famous cricketer and several others were sold a pup the other day by an organised gang that sells gold plated copper sheets claiming that they are artifacts made of solid gold! There have been many such instances where people were duped into paying for the worthless or cheated of their money in other ways. What takes the cake is a racket by a teacher of English. Teaching of English is a big racket in this country, as could be seen from the products churned out by some wayside private tuition kades, where the blind are led by the blind!

But, this particular English master's racket was different. He took to swindling. Sakvithi is his name––Sakvithi meaning the king of kings! Shall we call him the king of conmen or Con King? He has cheated the public of a whopping sum of nearly nine billion rupees and fled the country with his family.

Woebegone depositors are baying for his blood. We believe only the innocent people who sought higher interest rates for their hard-earned money, lifetime savings or terminal benefits are protesting. There may be scores of others who are wary of going to the police for fear of the tax man, as they have not declared their deposits with the swindler to the Inland Revenue.

Some of the hapless depositors have directed their wrath towards the government and the Central Bank (CB). They ask what the Finance Ministry and the CB did while Con King was carrying out his sordid operations. The government and the CB may be faulted for other things but on this score those unfortunate people have none to blame but themselves. It was before depositing money that they should have gone to the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry to check the credentials of Sakvithi and his collaborators offering very high interest rates that not even the solid banks and finance companies could match––six per cent a month! The higher the interests that the informal sector offers, the greater the risks! The CB from time to time issues lists of recommended financial institutions for the benefit of the public but avarice oftentimes blinds people to such information as well as risks.

There are many others of Sakvithi's ilk in different parts of the country taking deposits from the gullible public. One is called the salli gaha ('tree of money') of Polonnaruwa and many people are said to have deposited millions of rupees with him. They pay high interest rates and bolt with the deposits in the end. That is the name of the game. This has been going on for years and thousands of people have lost their money. But, as the internationally known conman P. T. Barnum (of the Cardiff Giant fame) once famously said there is a sucker born every minute. Swindlers are, therefore, never short of prey.

Now what should the government do besides looking for Sakvithi? True, it cannot be held responsible for what the Con King did but it can certainly do something drastic to prevent many more people from losing their money in a similar manner. Conmen do not operate covertly. Their operations are very much overt. The plight of Sakvithi's victims must jolt the government into taking action to crack down on such swindlers.

It was only recently that the government made it mandatory for all doctors engaged in private practice to be registered with the Health Ministry purportedly to keep quacks at bay. Seeking treatment from a medical quack may result in death. Likewise, depositing money with a financial quack may lead to suicide. There is hardly any difference between death and the loss of lifetime savings! Among the victims of the Con King, is a blind person, who sold his house and deposited the proceeds with him, hoping for a better future. There must be thousands of other innocent people unable to bear the loss.

The CB recently slapped an age limit on the banking chiefs on the grounds that it was duty bound to adopt measures to safeguard the interests of the public whose money banks handle. So, why can't it be made illegal for those other than banks and recognised finance companies to take deposits from the public?

The rise of swindlers is a sad reflection on the banking Shylocks who are fleecing the public by offering the lowest possible interest rates on savings and extracting the highest possible interest rates on loans. They have thus driven pensioners and others dependent on income from the interest on savings to the informal sector. The government has aggravated the situation by burdening them further with all sorts of taxes without netting in the tax-evading sharks and recovering its dues.