CEA, BOI to take legal action against Hayleys over import of waste : SOC Chairman

The Central Environment Authority (CEA) and the Board of Investment (BOI) are to take legal action against Hayleys Plc over the import of 130 waste containers for re-exportation purposes in 2017, the Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on Economic Development said.

Addressing a news conference today (Jul 25), SOC Chairman Harshana Rajakaruna explained that these waste containers have been lying at the Hayleys Free Zone since 2017, and have not been completely re-exported from the country.

“The biggest shortcoming is that they (Hayleys) had imported waste,” Rajakaruna told reporters.

The SOC Chairman told media that the importation of waste containers which currently lie at the Hayleys Free Zone and the Colombo Port had taken place due to certain shortcomings of the BOI, CEA, and the Customs Department.

Accordingly, the SOC has instructed the Finance Ministry to conduct an investigation into the failure of the Customs Department to prevent such imports. “We will be monitoring the progress of these investigations,” Committee Chairman Rajakaruna noted.

However, he conceded that the customs department does not scan every single container which is being shipped to the country, since the necessary facilities are not available to do so.

Rajakaruna noted that he could not confirm media reports which stated that human remains were included in 111 waste containers which had been imported from UK recently. These containers currently lie at the Colombo Port.

“I cannot reveal the contents of these containers until the CEA concludes its investigations over the matter,” he said.

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