Kapruka responds to liquor racket allegations It is with deep distress that we respond to the recent spate of baseless allegations leveled against Kapruka over an alleged liquor racket, supposedly being carried out by our organization. With a history spanning over ten years, Kapruka has always been a company which adheres to the strictest of laws, regulation and ethics. At no point during our decade long existence has Kapruka willfully broken the law while carrying out its business operations and has always been mindful in ensuring it carries out its business within the stipulated laws of the country. With the humblest of beginnings, yet backed by a visionary outlook, Kapruka was born in the year 2002 to be identified as Sri Lanka’s largest e-commerce organization in the country today. Over the years, through our online gift delivery service, Kapruka has become a household name among many Sri Lankans who are living here and abroad. Kapruka delivers over 10,000 varieties of different items ranging from cakes, chocolates, flowers, electronics, food items, perfumes, to even soft toys and liquor. At no point did we have a warehouse housing only liquor but when we get orders through our online patrons, we purchase the liquor from supermarkets wrap it and deliver it to the given address. However as business increased over the years, there have been instances where we purchased a carton or two of liquor items from supermarkets and store it in our stores among our other gift items, so whenever a customer makes an online purchase then it’s easier for us to deliver it to the required address instead of going to supermarkets to purchase a bottle of liquor each time we get an online order for a bottle of wine, etc. We stocked a considerable amount of various products including liquor bottles, which was purchased from supermarkets, for Father’s Day which fell on June 16th, however not all these products were sold out as anticipated and therefore these bottles continued to remain in our stores, awaiting future orders. We agree that there was an oversight on our part with regard to obtaining the relevant permit as we had stored several bottles of liquor at a certain period. This was not an act committed willfully, but was an honest oversight. While we are regretful of this oversight, Kapruka categorically denies all baseless allegations which claimed that we were involved in a liquor racket. There was no online liquor racket at any point during the operations of Kapruka, which has been in existence since 2002. We only purchased a product from a supermarket subsequent to an order we received via our website and delivered the order as instructed by our customer to the given address in Sri Lanka as a gift. At no point have we been directly importing liquor nor trading directly with liquor vendors. This issue has now been solved through legal proceedings with the relevant authorities. In conclusion, on behalf of Kapruka and my staff, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all our customers and friends for the support extended to us at all times. Thank you Dulith Herath Chairman Kapruka
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 03:26:12 +0000