A large number of vehicles held by Sri Lanka Customs for up to eight years have deteriorated to the point of becoming unusable, an audit report has revealed.
The finding was disclosed in the Customs Annual Performance Report for 2025, which noted that numerous vehicles kept at Mattakkuliya and the Ruhunu Pura Port premises had deteriorated due to prolonged storage.
According to the report, 329 vehicles taken into Customs custody were being kept on land leased from a private company in the Mattakkuliya area, while another 108 vehicles were being held at the Ruhunu Pura Port premises.
The audit report noted that the majority of these vehicles had deteriorated and become unfit for use due to being kept parked in open storage yards for prolonged periods.
As a result, even auctioning the vehicles would no longer generate a reasonable return, the report said.
It attributed the situation to Customs failing to take action in accordance with Section 109 of the Customs Ordinance.
Meanwhile, the report revealed that five imported vehicles had been cleared through Customs after invoices were submitted showing values lower than the CIF values recorded in the export Customs declarations.
As a result, the total value of the five vehicles had been under declared by AUD 97,510.
The audit report further found that, based on the CIF values declared in the export Customs records, approximately Rs. 16.2 million had not been included in the taxable value, resulting in a loss of Rs. 26.7 million in tax revenue to the government.
In addition, an examination of auction prices in Japan for four of the vehicle types most commonly imported into Sri Lanka found indications that importers had cleared vehicles through Customs at lower declared values.
The report said that, based on auction prices recorded within a period close to the importation of a sample of vehicles in 2025, the declared values appeared to have been understated.
As a result, the government is estimated to have lost approximately Rs. 88.76 million in tax revenue during the clearance of 29 such vehicles examined in the audit sample.
