Krrish Transworks Colombo Pvt. Ltd, owners of the proposed Krrish mixed development project in Fort, has taken umbrage to last week’s report in the Business Times under the above headline.

In a letter the company CEO R.P. Gupta says:

The article refers to an unnamed official source that “The Government is to offer the Transwork site in Colombo now leased out to India’s Krrish group to potential investors attending the Commonwealth Business Forum”.

Krrish Square is a cabinet approved BOI project where all engagements have been based on legally executed proper documents after making all the due payments including interest. Payments have been made within the timelines agreed with UDA and entire process is well documented. It is unlawful for ANYONE to tamper with our agreements and any publication in print media to that effect is not only baseless but also highly damaging the international reputation of Sri Lanka as a potential investment destination.

The company has never collected any money from potential investors/buyers though there had been many inquiries to that effect. The company intends to start selling apartments only after all necessary approvals are in place.

Krrish Group is a reputed company in India and is successfully executing large number of projects costing more than a billion USD. The group has invested in Sri Lanka with a long term vision and maintains our commitment to support the development of Sri Lanka despite relentless baseless attacks on the project, by your newspaper. 

Business Editor says: In a public announcement in September 2012, Krrish said it has begun marketing apartments, more than a year ago.

At the time, Mr. Gupta was quoted in all media as saying the group has set up a marketing office to sell apartments.
What has happened since then? There is no work at the site; the office at the World Trade Centre is dead as a dodo as our reporter discovered two weeks ago; no new inquiries are being fielded; payments for the upfront lease rental have been delayed over and over again – not according to us but stated on record by the Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena -; many members of the staff have moved out
Krrish says it has not sold any apartments and intends to do so after the approvals are in place. If so why did it start marketing apartments from day one – September 2012, according to the CEO himself? There was a large hoarding in Fort advertising apartments for sale. It has since disappeared.

Interestingly this property website – http://www.lankapropertyweb.com/index.php?srch_words=Krrish – is adverting Krrish apartments for sale at Rs 104.7 million.The price we reported was Rs. 93 million.The website also says “Please note that we are not estate agents / brokers and all the ads on the site have been posted by the owner/agent of that property directly”.

In the meantime, what has happened to the Ritz Carlton that was supposed to be putting up a 7-star hotel in partnership with the Krrish?

In June this year, the Business Times published an interview about the French connection in the project. The report said Renaud Dutreil, global investment consultant and a former Commerce Minister, and experienced architect Edouard Francois, were visiting Sri Lanka as partners of the project. There have been no developments since then.

Are they still involved in the project? We are told they are not, anymore.

In August 2013, UNP parliamentarian and economist Harsha de Silva issued a statement in parliament on the Krrish development saying (in his words), “It now seems that this whole (Krrish) project was a hoax and that Parliament was misled both by the Minister and by the investor”.

He further said, “We demand that the massive tax breaks granted to this investor be cancelled immediately and an impartial investigation be launched into what exactly happened. The investigation must find out who were behind this transaction and blacklist all such persons so that hereafter Parliament will not be duped by such fly-by-night operators with connections to high places. From the very beginning of this purported project by the unknown Krrish Group we questioned the Government for information on who the promoters were; how the prime property came to be given to this company without any transparent process; what the role of the Central Bank and the UDA were and many other relevant questions”.

These are very strong claims and allegations. Yet, nary a word from Krrish; nary a response on ‘an unknown Krrish Group’; nary a response on Krrish being ‘a fly-by-night operator’; nary a word on ‘the whole project is a hoax’. No denials from Krrish, Mums’ the word!

Krrish says that all payments were made within agreed timelines with the UDA. If so why was a penal interest imposed due to delayed payments, and paid up by Krrish?

We stand by our story that the Government is considering showing the project site to potential investors attending the CHOGM Business Forum. We can disclose at this point that this was discussed at a meeting chaired by a minister and included many officials.

Krrish’s assertion that “It is unlawful for anyone to tamper with our agreements’, in our view, is a veiled warning to the government not to touch the agreement
The Business Times is also waiting for a response from Krrish to UNP Parliamentarian de Silva’s August statement that the Krrish project is a hoax and that the Minister (in charge) and the investor had misled parliament (and the people). Finally, it’s our readers who will judge who is telling the truth.