New twist in Agalawatte Plantations drama
Agalawatte Plantations PLC’s sale that has drawn fire has seen a new twist to the drama with two ministries raising vital questions over not being consulted in the transaction and the non-payment of EPF dues of workers. Last week (August 11), the Ministry of Plantation Industries sent a letter to Agalawatte Plantations clarifying how the transaction, now contested in court, went through without the golden shareholder’s nod. The ‘golden share’ in plantation companies is held by the government and has wide powers. The issue of non-payment of dues came in a May 16 letter by the Treasury to the plantation company querying Agalawatte’s liability of Rs. 413 million in EPF, around Rs. 90 million in gratuity dues to its employees and lease rental of around Rs. 170 million to the Ministry of Finance through the Plantation Management Monitoring Division (PMMD) of the Ministry of Plantation Industries.
That letter also said while these dues are yet to be paid, the company has transferred funds to other firms in the group. “We wanted to know why dues were not paid when it seems the company had enough money to transfer to other firms,” a Ministry of Finance official told the Business Times. He added that on top of all this drama, the owners changed hands and they had to write to Agalawatte again. The drama began when Mackwoods Plantations Ltd on July 14 sold its majority stake in Agalawatte Plantations to the Browns Group-controlled LOLC company for Rs. 304 million.
With the Mackwoods group in the midst of a power struggle with its chairman Chris Nonis pitted against individuals including his sister and former co-chairman Nirmali Samaratunga, the latter complained to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the transaction was not proper in law. The deal was then suspended by the SEC amidst protests from the Mackwoods Group with a further development being the Appeal Court on August 10 issuing notice on the SEC and CSE based on a writ application made by Browns Power Holdings Ltd challenging the delay in approving the transaction.