Sri Lanka, June 16 -- In the wake of tens of millions of US dollars being transferred out of the country through fraudulent transactions, the government is planning to strengthen laws governing money laundering by introducing fresh legal amendments, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said.

Earlier, the Minister told Parliament that as much as US$85 million had been transferred out of the country under the guise of import payments.

He said that, according to one investigation, a company had transferred Rs. 12.89 billion through 953 transactions to 256 companies in 26 countries, resulting in an outflow of US$42.7 million.

A second investigation found that another company had allegedly transferred around Rs. 13 billion overseas thr...