BOI web site removes reference to ‘No FDI nationalisation’

The UNP yesterday criticised the Board of Investment (BOI) for misleading investors by changing its web site's previous assurance that foreign investments will not be nationalised.

An apparent development following the passing of Takeover Bill in parliament on Wednesday, in the BOI web site's section listing Supportive Government Policies, the new version only states "Safety of foreign investment is guaranteed by the constitution" but it has retained the emphasis that Sri Lanka is a founder member of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) an investment guarantee agency of the World Bank and this provides a safeguard against expropriation and non-commercial risks.

However the previous version was more detailed which among other assurance said “Under Article 157 of the country's constitution, the agreement enjoys the force of law and no legislative, executive or administrative action can be taken to contravene the provisions of a bilateral investment agreement otherwise than in the interests of national security.”

It also said: “A clause in the Sri Lankan constitution ensures the sanctity of the agreements. These agreements provide the following: Protection against nationalisation; Prompt and adequate compensation if required; Free remittance of earnings, capital and business fees; Settlement of disputes under the International Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).”

     

UNP MP and party’s Chief Spokesman on Economy, Dr. Harsha de Silva in a statement said that the change in BOI web site showed the “ultimate bankruptcy of the Government’s economic policy.

“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,” Dr. de Silva’s statement said.  

“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,” he added.

“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.,” claimed the UNP MP.

“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,” Dr. de Silva alleged.

His statement also queried 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,” UNP MP said.