The Court of Appeal has directed the Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) to expeditiously release 625 BYD vehicles currently detained, subject to bank and corporate guarantees, following a motion filed by the Customs Department.
The order was issued by Court of Appeal President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice K. Priyantha Fernando during hearings on several writ petitions filed by John Keells CG Auto (Pvt) Ltd. The petitions concern a dispute over the motor capacity of certain BYD vehicle models.
Senior Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardena, PC, representing the Director General of Customs, informed the court that Customs had agreed to release the following models on corporate guarantees equivalent to bank guarantees: BYD Atto 2 Premium–70kw, BYD Atto 1 Dynamic–45kw, BYD Atto 1 Premium–45kw, and BYD Dolphin Dynamic–70kw.
Additionally, the BYD Dolphin Standard–49kw and BYD Sealion 7–100kw models were to be released on bank guarantees. Specifically, 130 BYD Atto 1 Dynamic and 74 BYD Atto 1 Premium vehicles will be released on corporate guarantees, while 232 BYD Dolphin Standard and three BYD Sealion 7 vehicles will be released on bank guarantees. Six vehicles will remain under Customs custody for motor capacity testing.
