(Srilankamirror) - The devastating impact by enacting the expropriation law will be seen in the next six to twelve months, says UNP MP and consultant economist Dr. Harsha de Silva. He says in a statement that it is tragicomic to see the extent to which this government appears to be going to cover up its tracks in committing this grave economic crime in a most dictatorial manner.
Dr. Silva alleges that the Board of Investment website has been manipulated to remove the reference to the clause in the Constitution of Sri Lanka that ensures agreements entered to by foreign investors have "protection against nationalisation."
His statement says,
If the government believes that by manipulating the BOI website to remove the reference to the clause in the Constitution of Sri Lanka that ensures agreements entered to by foreign investors have "protection against nationalisation" such investors can be misled into believing no such protection ever existed, it shows the ultimate bankruptcy of this regime's economic policy. No matter what the government does now to control the damage done by enacting the Expropriation Law the devastating impact of it will be seen in the next six to twelve months.
It is tragicomic to see the extent to which this government appears to be going to cover up its tracks in committing this grave economic crime in a most dictatorial manner. It only shows how nervous they have got. No amount of concealing evidence will help this short sighted government get away from the truth that will inevitably be found out.
What good does manipulating a website do to hide the reality? In fact, there is a precedent to this kind of unintelligent behavior complete with results. When I made public the existence of a link in the EPF website to the Central Bank Investment Policy Statement which clearly stated that Central Bank could not trade in listed shares of commercial banks using EPF funds due to conflicts of interest related to inside information and that it should not purchase shares of non blue-chip firms, the link was stealthily removed. Subsequently the Governor defended its continuous investments in commercial banks and also investments in firms listed even on the second-tier Diri Savi board. Since then the market has collapsed amid serious allegations of insider trading and in a bizarre twist, the Director General removed, amidst allegations he was taking orders from opposition politicians.
As I mentioned in Parliament on behalf of the UNP during the debate of the Expropriation Bill, it is indeed sad to see this government having lost its direction just when it is most needed to rebuild our nation after the end of the military conflict. We tried our best as a responsible opposition to warn the government they were heading in the wrong direction, but, we, along with all right thinking people were ignored. Manipulating the website can never right this wrong.
SLM
