Audit underway at Agalawatte Plantations
Amidst a partly-averted courtroom drama between siblings, the audit that the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board asked Browns Group, the new owners of Agalawatte Plantations, to do on Agalawatte will be completed by next month, sources said.
This is in a bid to examine the statements of liabilities in the company, according to them. “They want to see the exact position in this company and quantify their assets and liabilities,” a source told the Business Times adding that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was made aware of this request for the audit. Agalawatte is liable to pay EPF Rs. 413 million and gratuity around Rs. 90 million to its employees and lease rental around Rs. 170 million to the Ministry of Finance through the Plantation Management Monitoring Division (PMMD) of the Ministry of Plantation Industries.
This drama started in July when Mackwoods Plantations Ltd. was sold for Rs. 304 million to Browns in a move initiated by Mackwoods chairman Dr. Chris Nonis and the majority shareholders of Mackwoods Securities, the holding company.
While Dr. Nonis’ sister Nirmali Samaratunga was a director in the holding company, she did not endorse this and wrote to both Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the SEC to stop the transaction. She also filed a petition in the Commercial High Court of Colombo to have the sale of shares annulled. This was on the grounds, among others, that the sale of the shares was against the interests of Mackwoods Plantations Ltd and its shareholders. The case was dismissed by courts, averting an interim courtroom battle between Dr. Nonis and his sister Ms. Samaratunga.