SEC ordered by court to submit share transaction report of Dilith Jayaweera, Nalaka Godahewa

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to submit a detailed report on share transactions of Dilith Jayaweera, former SEC chief Nalaka Godahewa, Varuni Amunugama and Sarvajana Anandaraj Ameresekere since 2008.

The Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris made this order in response to a request by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) when the case on alleged irregularities in Lanka Hospitals share transactions was taken up for hearing this week.

The FCID is carrying out investigations into a number of irregularities that had taken place at the CSE during the recent past, including insider trading and market manipulation. These irregularities are alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2014 at Lanka Hospitals Corporation Plc under the chairmanship of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The case was based on a complaint lodged by Dr. Neomal Alexander Perera, a cancer specialist attached to Lanka Hospitals.

The complainant alleged that Rajapaksa took control of the affairs of the hospital and was responsible for a financial fraud amounting to Rs.600 million that took place after artificially manipulating the price of Lanka Hospital shares in the stock market.

According to the complainant, a fraud of Rs. 350 million had taken place when the hospital set up the LHD Diagnostics Laboratory and that several irregularities had occurred during the purchase of two houses by Lanka Hospitals which did not follow a proper tender procedure. The court has further ordered a full disclosure of bank account details of Mr. Jayaweera, Dr. Godahewa, Ms. Amunugama and Mr. Ameresekere.The FCID revealed to court that the bank accounts of these individuals at Bank of Ceylon, Nations Trust Bank and several other banks have been already examined.

The Additional Magistrate directed that the names used by the individuals in question, during the transaction and all other related material be submitted to court through a report. The respective banks have been ordered to submit to court, bank statements of the four individuals – between January 2011 and June 30, 2011.
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CIFL depositors present Rs. 3.5 bln bailout plan

By Quintus Perera

Depositors of the failed Central Investment and Finance Ltd have submitted a proposal to the Central Bank (CB) to revive the company under a Rs. 3.5 billion bailout package. W. Gunawardene, President of the CIFL Depositors Association (CIFLDA) told the Business Times that the money would be obtained from state banks as a long term loan against the recoverable assets of CIFL based on the KPMG Audit.

The proposal came amidst accusations that the CB was slow in finding a quick solution to revive this crisis-ridden finance company. Mr. Gunawardene said the CB had compelled them to withdraw their Supreme Court Case on the promise that the banking regulator would find investors to revive the CIFL but the CB has been silent on the matter so far.

He said that they had a discussion with CB officials headed by Ms K.M.A.N. Daulagala, Director, Supervision of Non-Banking Financial Institutions, on June 17 on the matters related to the misappropriation of public funds and money laundering of CIFL based on the ‘B’ Report submitted by the CID on a complaint made by the CB. He said their proposal was not taken up at the CB Monetary Board meeting on June 25 but would be taken up at its next meeting on July 10.
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Sri Lanka tourist arrivals up 12-pct in June

COLOMBO (EconomyNext) - Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 12 percent to 115,467 in June 2015 from a year earlier driven by rapid growth from the main markets of China and India, data from the state tourist promotion agency showed.

In the year to June, the total number of visitors were up 14.1 percent to 830,051 from the year before.

Arrivals from South Asia have been growing rapidly, largely owing to Indian visitors, and were up 19.5 percent to 36,972 in June 2015.

Arrivals from East Asia also grew by over 19 percent to 26,217 in June, mainly driven by visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The traditional Western European market remained the largest source of visitors in the six months to June 2015, up almost 15 percent to 256,567 from the year before.

The UK, Germany and France were the main source of tourists.

Arrivals from Eastern Europe are down 11.4 percent to 76,708 in the year to June 2015 but are recovering with Russia growing 7.8 percent in June and Ukraine up 17.4 percent.