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Guess who's coming for talks?
LTTE representatives may not sit at same table as US, UK officials
Tamil rebel representatives led by chief negotiator Anton Balasingham - at tomorrow's donor meeting in Oslo - may possibly not be sitting at the same table with officials from the US and Britain where the LTTE is still a banned organisation.

While seating arrangements were still unclear at the weekend for the 20-odd countries taking part, Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda said the Norwegians were trying to organise the seating keeping in mind country sensitivities.
"It's hard to say what the seating arrangements would be but its possible that Balasingham and the US and British representatives may not sit at the same table. US and Britain have strict rules on officials meeting with banned groups. The Norwegians will look at all these sensitive issues," he said. Norwegian embassy officials were not available for comment.

While Sri Lankan ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris and Moragoda were upbeat about the meeting, concerns were growing about the possible non-participation of India and the source through which the expected aid pledges would be channelled.

Italy said it would be attending after a last-minute hitch, which officials put down to some misunderstanding, in which the Italian ambassador said his country had not been invited. One of the tricky issues is whether the money would be sent through Sri Lanka.

The sub-committee on humanitarian and rehabilitation aid which met for the first time in Kilinochchi last week will determine the mechanism through which the money will flow and be monitored, said Moragoda. He said there were two options - setting up a special fund and sending the money through the government. "Whatever way - it would have to conform to the laws of the land."

While the government recently changed course in saying the meeting is more of a political nature instead of earlier pronouncements that it is a donor aid conference, Moragoda said the plan had always been to organise a meeting quickly with donors using the goodwill that has been generated so far.

"We wanted to harness support quickly because of expectations that the crisis in Iraq would flare up and divert international attention," he said adding that the political cum funding meeting is seeking short-term support for the next six to eight months.
Tokyo would be playing a key role in Oslo and also the donor meeting in Japan in early 2003. Japanese special envoy Yasushi Akashi sent a special representative Motohide Yoshikawa to attend the sub-committee meeting in Kilinochchi. Akashi is a principle advisor to the Norwegian-facilitated committee.

Akashi is attending tomorrow's meeting along with Richard Armitage, US deputy secretary of state and UK Development Minister Clare Short. While Japan is preparing for the donor meeting in Tokyo, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is also visiting Tokyo from December 4 to 6.
"The Japanese want to play a wider role apart from merely funding and are taking these meetings very seriously," Moragoda said.

Soft drinks war erupts in Jaffna
By Suren Gnanaraj
With the re-opening of the A-9 highway to Jaffna following the truce between government forces and Tiger guerrillas, beverage firms are "fizzing" with enthusiasm about the market for soft drinks in the north.

Sumithra Gunasekera, director of John Keells Holdings, said there was good demand for the products of its Elephant House subsidiary in the North and East and that it had become the "dominant player".

Ceylon Cold Stores director Billy Walpola said the company has seen an increase of 3.5 percent in its total sales volume of 400ml glass bottles, after its expansion to the Jaffna peninsular.

"Fortunately we had a distributor who had stored his glass bottles when we stopped our operations to the North, and so as soon as the A-9 route was open, we were able to commence our operations immediately, and that too has contributed to our success."

Walpola said that within two weeks, 200 billboards were put up in the region to popularise the brand. Himal Fonseka, country marketing manager for Pure Beverages Ltd. said that since Coca Cola was distributed in glass bottles, it took time for the company to get the logistics worked out in terms of increasing the volume of glass bottles necessary for the North-East market.

"There were no glass bottles and we had to treat it like a virgin market and adopt many procedures like manufacturing new glass bottles to meet the new demand. But since we managed to get in to the market before our competitors, we have successfully managed to gain a larger share of the market."

Both firms operate through agents in the North and East, who transport the drinks from Colombo to Jaffna, and said they were unaware of the prices of these drinks there, and whether or not a tax was being paid to the LTTE.

SEC inquiry drags on
As the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a fresh investigation into the probe on alleged insider dealing by its own chairman, Michael Mack, ignoring the Attorney General's advice, pressure is mounting from the public for Mack to resign.
The SEC maintained a studied silence about the probe amidst reports that the watchdog body had halted another inquiry, also of alleged insider dealing, against Ajit Gunewardene, chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Mack took leave of absence the week before last.

The SEC's acting chairman, Nihal Jinasena, declined to comment on reports that it had appointed a two-man 'independent' team to review the SEC investigation and the opinion of the Attorney General's Department that there appeared to be a prima facie case against Mack and two other Aitken Spence directors.

Analysts said the move to review the AG's advice to proceed with court action against Mack and the others was unprecedented. It raised questions about whether those found guilty and fined in previous such investigations where the AG's advice had been sought and given would be entitled to have their cases too reviewed in a "second opinion" and for refunds of all fines if the second opinion is different to the original one.

Jinasena also declined comment on reports that the SEC had halted its inquiry into the insider dealing allegations against Ajit Gunewardene of the CSE.
Some analysts have called for "independent professionals" to investigate such cases in order to ensure a fair and unbiased investigation.

The SEC is investigating the sale of Aitken Spence shares during May-June by several company board members, including Mack, a former chairman of the conglomerate, former directors Manil de Mel and Norman Gunewardene, as well as some of their family members.

They are supposed to have been privy to price sensitive information about an alleged fraud at the group's garments subsidiary, which could have reduced company profits and brought down its share price. However, market analysts said there appeared to be no case since the company has not announced any fraud, or any related losses.
Others described this as irrelevant saying what mattered was whether the rules were broken.

The Securities and Exchange Commission comprises Michael Mack (Chairman), Faiz Mohideen, P. M. Nagahawatte, Nihal Jinasena, D.K. Hettiarachchi, G.C.B. Wijeyesinghe, A.D.B. Talwatte, Hemaka Amarasuriya, and L.C.R. de C. Wijetunge.

More questions: Pramuka probe continues
By Thushara Matthias
As depositors of the Pramuka Savings and Development Bank (PSDB) - now under suspension - tried to mediate last week on many unresolved issues over the crisis, the Monetary Board and the Central Bank decided to continue with the probe for at least another week.

"We can't rush into conclusions. We need to be cautious. There are some irregularities in credit management. We need at least another week to look at these issues," said an authoritative source, who declined to be identified. Central Bank officials remained tight-lipped except to confirm that the investigation is still on.

There were expectations that the probe was over and an announcement was to have been made last week. Other sources said the Monetary Board, at a meeting on Thursday, had requested more information on certain transactions before taking a decision on Pramuka's future As depositors waited in anticipation of an announcement, there was a flurry of activity by a newly-formed Depositors'

Association led by Ranjan Arambawela trying to bring the "warring" groups - Pramuka and the Central Bank - to a roundtable to see how the bank could be revived instead of being liquidated, if it amounts to that.

Arambawela, who has the backing of about 30 depositors from the 15,000-strong depositors' base, sent letters to Pramuka Bank chairman Rohan Perera, Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte and Central Bank authorities.

Following his intervention, Perera addressed depositors outside the bank premises on Tuesday saying loans have been given according to rules and regulations, and that this situation wouldn't have arisen if the bank had parate rights.

"The Central Bank is the lender of the last resort and it will have to maintain its name and do the needful," he said, adding that non-performing loans did not mean dead loans and was as a result of many companies facing financial problems due to the economic crisis in the past two years.

Perera, who told the Depositors' Association that he is prepared to step down if the bank is asked to be run with a new management, said even if the Central Bank asks to reopen the bank, a strategic plan has to be drawn as to how future transactions of the bank could be carried out. He said all the depositors who want to withdraw their money can do so and they will be paid in full with the due interest.

The issue also came to parliament in the form of an adjournment question with Finance Minister K.N. Choksy repeating what has been already said that the Central Bank was examining some irregularities in the category of non-performing advances.
Speakers from the opposition People's Alliance blamed the Central Bank for not sufficiently protecting depositors but officials were stressing the point that depositors should have been careful in investing in banks that offer interest rates much higher than market rates.

An irate depositor who attended the meeting with Perera said she had deposited a large sum of money on October 25 and a few hours later the bank was sealed at night.

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