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UNCTAD
help to woo investors
The programme to streamline policies and laws under the investment framework is a major initiative under UNDP's Invest-in-Peace project that kicked off in September with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to New York to address the UN General Assembly and UN-sponsored investment promotion meetings. Under the new
policy framework, a special UNCTAD team would review current policies
and laws relating to private investment and recommend modifications
or amendments to make it more attractive to foreign investors. The
team, expected to start work in January would also study the agencies
connected to investment promotion like the BOI and Customs. "The
team would make an honest investment study and report on how Sri
Lanka compares with the competition," the investment specialist
said adding that UNCTAD recently completed a similar study in Mauritius. The third component where the UN will act as an "honest broker" will be undertaken with the help of International Alert and SriLankaFirst, the business-peace group. Under this phase, there would be a sustained, grassroots dialogue in the north, east and south to identify key impediments to renewed private investment in post-conflict areas, encourage collaborative strategies toward reducing and removing these barriers and monitoring investment start-ups in order to recommend any additional, downstream improvements to local investment climates, according to the UNDP proposal. The UNDP and
the two support agencies would also liaise between the public sector
involved in post-conflict work and private sector firms, keep on
investing in war-torn areas and also strengthen regional chambers
of commerce. Following up on the New York initiative, investment
promotion road shows are also planned in East Asia and London in
February-March culminating with a major investment forum in Colombo
by which time the UNCTAD team would be ready with a report on its
findings. By that time, hopefully economic reforms would also be
in place, he said. "The problem in Sri Lanka - and this is according to investors here - is not the rules and regulations but the inconsistencies in it, corruption and old fashioned ways of doing things," the expert said. He said the BOI-styled investment agency was outdated now with more and more countries having an open doors policy instead of one agency doing everything and making it more bureaucratic. Tax holidays are also no more in vogue. "What investors need is an efficient system with little or no bureaucratic controls," he said. Insider
dealing crisis at SEC and CSE The SEC is now considering whether or not to go ahead with legal action against its chairman, Michael Mack, a former chairman of Aitken Spence and Co., and two other former directors of the firm in a case of alleged insider dealing in the conglomerate's shares, authoritative sources said. This follows an opinion given by the Attorney General's Department, whose advice was sought by the SEC as part of its investigation, that there appears to be enough evidence to pursue legal action in the case. Insider dealing is a criminal offence under the SEC Act. The investigation concerns the trading of Aitken Spence shares in May and June, 2002. It involves Mack, and former Aitken Spence directors Manil de Mel and Norman Gunewardene (a former chairman of the firm); and his son, Ajit Gunawardene, who is chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange and other family members of the Gunawardene family who had shares in the conglomerate. Meanwhile the SEC inquiry against the younger Gunawardene, who is also a senior director of the conglomerate John Keells Holdings, is proceeding with the SEC awaiting an opinion from the Attorney General on the probe.
The authorities shut down this specialised saving bank on October 25 and began an investigation into its accounts saying its non-performing advances were too high and there was a mismatch with its deposits base. It was the first time a local bank was suspended by the Central Bank and triggered warning bells about other smaller banks having problems. Nagahawatte said Ernst and Young, the international audit firm, was helping the Central Bank's Banking Supervision department to carry out an independent audit of the Pramuka Bank accounts to ascertain the factual position. The Central Bank has said it would either hand over the bank if the books are in order or recommend liquidation. The private bank says it is losing half a million rupees a day due to the closure. (HS) Cargills
aims to revive the KIST range The company which acquired KIST from Unilever-owned CPC Lanka Ltd, two weeks back, for Rs. 215 million - made up of Rs. 60 million worth of shares and Rs. 155 million in debt - is on a roll and aiming to be Sri Lanka's biggest food and beverage company. With the acquisition of Goldi meat products, and the Bairaha and Safeway supermarket chains followed by last year's take over of the Walls ice cream plant from Unilever, Cargills now wants to revitalise KIST as a premier Sri Lankan brand and also use the 800-odd farmers who supply to the KIST factory at Katana to supply fresh fruit to the supermarket chain. "While launching an aggressive promotion to sell KIST, we would also enhance our supply base of fruits and vegetables, making it cheaper to the consumer," he said, adding that even now most of their vegetables are much cheaper than other supermarket stores. "We want to bring back the glory of KIST which is a 25-year-old product." Dr. Jagjit S. Punjrath, Managing Director at Cargills Quality Dairies, said plans were underway to improve the machinery and increase its utilisation at the KIST factory. "Presently the factory works at 30-40 percent of its capacity. We want to maximize capacity and also purchase fruits all year round and store the pulp which would help especially because some fruits are seasonal." The factory has an ultra high temperature plant and the only aseptic facility in Sri Lanka which allows packing of products in germ-free conditions. In a market that is currently dominated by MD, Kist, Kelani Valley and Sunquick among other smaller products, Cargills is considering introducing ready-to-drink juices and a whole range of new jams, sauces and chutneys. The factory will continue to manufacture Marmite and Knorr which were also products owned by CPC Lanka Ltd and now handled by Unilever, on contract for the multinational. "Unilever is divesting all its non-international products. That's why they sold KIST," said Wahid. Cargills would be working with 800 farmers in sourcing pineapple, woodapple, passion, melon, mango and tomato.
Suraj Dandeniya, who runs the Acura agency and president of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA), has accused the bureau and its chairman of various malpractices including violation of tender procedures in the purchase of equipment. Last week, the District Court extended by another two weeks an enjoining order on the bureau restraining it from placing restrictions on Dandeniya's foreign employment agency. Dandeniya filed a petition last month and the judge imposed a restraining order on the bureau for a two-week period. On Thursday, lawyers for the bureau asked for time to make their submissions on the petition. Dandeniya, who contested the last General Elections as a UNP candidate for the Colombo district, claims in the petition that the bureau resorted to this action because of the plaintiff's (Dandeniya's) objection to decisions taken by the bureau chairman Susantha Fernando and other directors in the administration and management of finances of the SLFEB. He said the board had appointed Delmege Insurance Brokers (Pvt) Ltd as the insurance broker with a 15 percent commission for the first time without following proper procedures. The Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation has been providing these services at an annual premium of between Rs. 225 million to Rs. 250 million with the services of an insurance broker. The board also spent Rs. 4.5 million on 50 seats (Rs. 90,000 per seat) at the special airport lounge for migrant workers at the Katunayake airport and issued a credit card worth $ 5,000 to the SLFEB chairman. These decisions were made disregarding bureau procedures and without informing the board, he alleged. The ALFEA chief said the SLFEB was acting with malice towards him because of the objections he had raised on these issues. Dandeniya also objected to the awarding of a gold medal to the Upcountry Manpower Agency at the recent National Awards Scheme for foreign employment agencies. The Attorney General has ruled that all employment agencies must be members of ALFE which is the only authorised foreign employment agencies association. This agency was not a member of ALFEA at the time the award was made. He said according to the Bureau's own website which had listed the best 25 foreign employment agents last year, the gold medal winner was not among them. Dandeniya said the bureau decided to stop his agency sending workers abroad on a complaint made by a Sri Lankan housemaid sent by him who had claimed that she was stranded abroad. |
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