Namal, Mahinda Yapa clash over areca!
MP Namal Rajapaksa and agriculture minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena are involved in a clash over the re-export of arecanuts to India under the SAFTA.
Under a license to import arecanuts, a businessman friend of MP Namal had brought in five containerloads, but the agriculture minister had not allowed the arecanuts to be released by the customs, claiming they are contraband.
Sunday, 02 March 2014
MP Namal Rajapaksa and agriculture minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena are involved in a clash over the re-export of arecanuts to India under the SAFTA.Under a license to import arecanuts, a businessman friend of MP Namal had brought in five containerloads, but the agriculture minister had not allowed the arecanuts to be released by the customs, claiming they are contraband.
It is Chamuditha Samarawickrama, former TNL mediaman, using his clouts with Mahinda Yapa, who enjoys the monopoly to import arecanuts from other countries and re-export them to India. Samarawickrama is a key figure among journalists-turned-businessmen, who have cultivated political contacts through the media and used them to gain business opportunities.
Making use of his connections with minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and commerce and industries minister Risath Badurdeen, Samarawickrama has got the permission to re-export areca, for one Thadikin, the owner of a business called Wayamba Traders. In order to hang onto that monopoly, Samarawickrama is using the media friendly with him to publish reports against the businessman-friend of MP Namal.
He has given information to the media to the effect that attempts were being made to free five containerloads of arecanuts imported without permission from the agriculture and commerce ministries. It has been claimed a license is needed to import arecanuts as per the Plant Quarantine Act, and that it is illegal to import arecanuts without quarantine tests as arecanuts can contain an insect that destroys coconut, arecanuts, maize and other crops. The president has personally asked the agriculture minister to release the arecanuts, but the latter has refused, saying he would not allow illegal acts.
Arecanuts is categorized into three quality-wise, with the best quality going to manufacture chewing gum and betel, and the two others being used to produce paint. There is a good demand for arecanuts in India. But, under SAFTA, only Sri Lankan products can be exported to India and the re-export of arecanuts is illegal. The five containerloads of arecanuts had been imported from Indonesia. Since a considerable customs levy has to be paid if directly exported to India from Indonesia, the arecanuts is brought into Sri Lanka and re-exported to India under SAFTA.
Previously, such a racket had gone on with regard to Wanaspati, in which palm oil was imported from Malaysia and re-exported. By the time the Indian government exposed it, racketeers had earned billions of rupees. Later, the Indian government imposed a fine running into millions of rupees against the racketeers. As a result, the Wanaspati project to encourage local entrepreneurs collapsed. The same fate is likely to befall soon on the arecanuts racket too.
Dejected by these developments, the agriculture minister has told his friends, “When we try to earn something with great difficulty, those in the king’s family try to sabotage it. Now, no one will gain anything out of this.”
Making use of his connections with minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and commerce and industries minister Risath Badurdeen, Samarawickrama has got the permission to re-export areca, for one Thadikin, the owner of a business called Wayamba Traders. In order to hang onto that monopoly, Samarawickrama is using the media friendly with him to publish reports against the businessman-friend of MP Namal.
He has given information to the media to the effect that attempts were being made to free five containerloads of arecanuts imported without permission from the agriculture and commerce ministries. It has been claimed a license is needed to import arecanuts as per the Plant Quarantine Act, and that it is illegal to import arecanuts without quarantine tests as arecanuts can contain an insect that destroys coconut, arecanuts, maize and other crops. The president has personally asked the agriculture minister to release the arecanuts, but the latter has refused, saying he would not allow illegal acts.
Arecanuts is categorized into three quality-wise, with the best quality going to manufacture chewing gum and betel, and the two others being used to produce paint. There is a good demand for arecanuts in India. But, under SAFTA, only Sri Lankan products can be exported to India and the re-export of arecanuts is illegal. The five containerloads of arecanuts had been imported from Indonesia. Since a considerable customs levy has to be paid if directly exported to India from Indonesia, the arecanuts is brought into Sri Lanka and re-exported to India under SAFTA.
Previously, such a racket had gone on with regard to Wanaspati, in which palm oil was imported from Malaysia and re-exported. By the time the Indian government exposed it, racketeers had earned billions of rupees. Later, the Indian government imposed a fine running into millions of rupees against the racketeers. As a result, the Wanaspati project to encourage local entrepreneurs collapsed. The same fate is likely to befall soon on the arecanuts racket too.
Dejected by these developments, the agriculture minister has told his friends, “When we try to earn something with great difficulty, those in the king’s family try to sabotage it. Now, no one will gain anything out of this.”
