Panama Papers Sri Lanka List revealed - Updates 2

Panama Papers Sri Lanka List revealed - Updates 2

The dialogue taking place about the recent Panama Papers revelation has now taken a different outlook because of several inaccuracies reported by certain media.

When perusing a name in the search page about someone who has invested his monies of Panama

Papers in the ICIJ website, the name concerned is provided by both 2016 Panama Papers or 2013 Offshore Leaks data bases and it indicates on the righthand side as to in which data base the name belongs to. Offshore Leaks happen to be an old data base which reveals monetary investments in relation to Singapore. This list of names was made available in the ICIJ website too during the past 3 years. Though a dialogue was observed about them during that time around the world, there was nothing of that sort about Sri Lanka as such. Among names listed in the Offshore Leaks of 2013 there are several names of prominent figures of Sri Lanka. Among them is the Chairman Vidya Amarapala of the Electricity Board during the time of Minister Champika, Deputy Minister Thilanga Sumathipala's brother Jagathpriya and Sumathipala too. Though revealing their assets have not come into focus this long to the notice of the country, the talk about them has been refreshed because their names too have come into light with the Panama Papers data files. Among prominent investors whose names are quoted in 2016 Panama Papers, Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi and the other members of his company are seen mentioned. Apart from that the owner of Dubai Marriot Hotel, Lankan-born Nandana Jayadeva Lokuwithanage's name also has been quoted. His name could be located in the UAE List.

In the meantime what Minister Champika said yesterday was that these investments need not necessarily be incorrect. At the media briefing he had with Vidya Amarapala against whom a finger was pointed at by Offshore Leaks he expressed that if those investments were made in a legal manner without concealing his assets; there is no issue as such.

What action would be taken by the government in the future in respect of Sri Lankans whose names appear in the Panama List is still not clear. The Ministry of Finance has given them time to explain themselves and that investigations would commence subsequently and FCID would carry out investigations about them, it has been said.