RW: Port City could become money-laundering hub unless …

Former Prime Minister and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that amendments should be made to the Colombo Port City Economic Zone Special Commission Bill to prove that the centre the Bill seeks to create would not become a money-laundering hub.

Issuing a special statement via social media the former Premier said a law should be brought in this regard and passed on the advice of the Supreme Court. He said that every country had such laws.

The former Premier said the Parliament must be vested with powers to reach decisions regarding the Colombo Port City area.

Wickremesinghe has asked the following questions: “Why is the Central Bank not given the full control of the Port City? Why has the Port City been removed from the parliamentary control? Why is Parliament not empowered to pass these laws?”

“If proper procedures are not followed, it will have to be considered as a black money centre,” he has said, warning that Sri Lanka could be blacklisted once again by the Financial Action Task Force as a money laundering centre if the Port City Economic Commission Bill is enacted in its present form.

The former Prime Minister has said the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill will introduce gambling centres to bring money into the country’s financial institutions, and no other country has given the Central Bank such powers.

According to the Bill, casinos have been included among Off Shore Service Centres and Financial Centres, Wickremesinghe has said. “However, the government has not mentioned anything about new laws that allow offshore financial services such as banking and insurance.”

The absence of such laws and removing Port City from the purview of the Finance Ministry and making it independent from Parliament will make one conclude that the sole objective of the Port City is to convert it to a gaming centre where black money is turned white, the former PM has said.

“This is open to the interpretation that this is for money laundering. You can’t prevent that type of interpretation being made,” he said.

Wckremesinghe has further stated that if such a thing happens, it will be a fatal blow to the Sri Lankan economy and if it is done properly, it is possible to recover from this situation.

He has called on the government to put the bill up for discussions in the parliament as well as outside it to come up with a one in which the constitutional structure is also preserved.