Mahinda sets eyes on Standard Chartered

 Tuesday, 15 October 2013 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has now set his eyes on the building where the Standard Chartered Bank is situated in Fort.

The bank is located in a building overlooking the President’s House and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Fort.

The President has been quoted in the media as saying to several ministers recently that the building was being occupied by staff of the Presidential Secretariat and Presidential Security Division (PSD) personnel.

The building was taken on rent by the President’s Office in 2006.

However, President Rajapaksa has said that the owner of the building had advertised on an internet site that the building is for sale for Rs 1,139.77 million.

The Rajapaksas are now in the habit of getting whatever they want when they want at the price they want.
Displaying this though process, the President has told the ministers that the 84,277 square-foot building on 82 perches was worth only Rs 1 billion.

It would however, be interesting to see what would unfold in the purchase.