MihinLanka and the BOI agreement breach

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - The Presidential Commission of Inquiry has instructed detectives to inquire whether the Board of Investment (BOI) was under any influence not to take action on Mihin Lanka Private Limited for not complying with terms of the agreement. In his testimony, the Investment Director of the BOI stated that even though Mihin Lanka was informed continuously about the breach of terms on tax concessions until Mihin Lanka ceased operations they had never responded back to the BOI. The commission was concerned why the Operations department and the supervisory department at the BOI had not taken action regarding the failure of Mihin Lanka Private Limited. It also came to light the BOI had given Mihin Lanka tax concessions totalling 385.314 million rupees from 2012 to 2018. These include Import Duty, Nation Building Tax, VAT, Production Tax, CESS and Port & Airport Tax. Mihin Lanka Private Limited had imported 40 million rupees worth of goods under the premise of using them after importing and returning back to the supplier. These goods were imported with tax concessions. Moreover, SriLankan Airlines enjoyed 254 billion rupees as tax concessions from the BOI from 2012 to 2015 and another 307 billion rupees as tax concessions from 2015 to 2018, to import good and material to the country. SriLankan Catering Limited was also given a total of 05 billion rupees as tax concessions from 2012 to 2018.