Main shareholder not Oman Government – PM
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament yesterday that the main shareholder in the proposed project to build an oil refinery in Hambantota was not the Oman Government.
However, he said if the Oman Government is interested, they will have to take a 40% stake in the project.The Prime Minister noted that Minister Nalin Bandara had responded to a question that was posed to him about the Oman Government’s interest in a 30% stake in this project.
He said this in response to a question posed by UPFA-MP Kanchana Wijesekara.
MP Kanchana Wijesekara said in Parliament yesterday that three days ago Minister Nalin Bandara had revealed during a press briefing about the biggest foreign investment to be made by Oman in the country, centred on the Hambantota industrial park to commence on March 24. He had said that the $ 3.8 billion investment by Oman was to be made for this project.
However, it was reported in the news that Oman had issued a statement denying that Oman’s Oil Ministry was part of a $ 3.85 billion plan to build an oil refinery in Sri Lanka.
He said that Cabinet approval was obtained urgently claiming to be for the joint venture agreement and 400 acres was to be allocated for this investment.
“However, the Oman Ministry of Oil and Gas Undersecretary claims they were unaware of this investment in Sri Lanka. He claims to be unaware of who had agreed to make the $ 3.8 billion investment in Sri Lanka,” Wijesekara said.
Therefore, he asked Minister Harsha de Silva whether this was another scam like the bogus Volkswagen investment to hoodwink the people of this country.
“The Cabinet Paper was submitted claiming that this was an investment by the Oman State. This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the Cabinet and the people of this country. This grave wrong must be rectified. We have no objection to investments coming into the country. But, it is a grave wrong to trick the Cabinet and the people by claiming this was an investment by the Oman government and trying to give a private investor 400 acres of state land in Hambantota. This is the same thing they did in the Volkswagen scam, where they eventually gave large chunks of land to private investors.”
He noted that Minister Nalin Bandara had said that the Ministry was to take a 30% stake in what would be Sri Lanka’s biggest single foreign direct investment. In response, Minister Harsha de Silva said the BOI Director General was scheduled to issue a statement last evening explaining everything about this matter. “I don’t know about this and don’t want to comment on something I don’t know anything about.”
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe responding to Wijesekara said that he had seen the statement by the BOI and believes that all the relevant details are contained in it. “I also saw a letter that had been sent by the Oman Government stating that they had interest in this matter and that they wanted to have further discussions regarding this project. I saw the letter today when I inquired about this issue.”
However, Wijesekera pointed out that Cabinet approval was obtained stating that this was an investment with the Oman Government, which was not true and a deliberate lie.
(Source: Daily News – By Disna Mudalige / Camelia Nathaniel and Menaka Indrakumar)
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The main shareholder of the company in Singapore is a Tamil Nadu politician.
This project stinks terribly bad.
The site of this basted make me sick.
If the main shareholder is not the Oman Govt, then who is it?
There is a leading politician whose wealth is USD18billion according to Forbes Magazine.
Is he the one who is finacing the oil refinery?
Hey Ranil,
Good story, mate, and a funny one too.
Made me laugh.
But Ranil, you can’t beat the King at telling stories.
He is telling Singapore that he has given all the papers requested.
Ha, Ha, not only is he a CLOWN but a LIAR too.
A dummy funded by the CIA??
this story was reported by the sunday times ….fake news prompted most likely by the unp and the report speculated of processing some phenomenal amount of oil. most likely reason for this speculation is the 400 acres some crooked politician is after . take the land and forget about the project. as is land prices in the region is skyrocketing and will continue to do so for at least the next 50 years.
the crroked government has yet to control the land grab policies backed by the htpocite sirisena who does not know whether he is going or coming it is amazing that he continues to be supported by the party make it stink
The PM turns 70 on 24 Mar 2019.
He has sacrificed much in his political life.
The next Presidential candidate of the UNP and allies will be Hon K Jayasuriya.
The next Prime Minister in the UNF Govt will be Hon C Ranawaka.
Best wishes on your birthday, Ranil and thank you for all the efforts and sacrifices you made in keeping the flag of Democracy flying and in forging ahead with the creation of a new economy.