Panama Papers stink: SEC must take action
View(s):A retail investor – Rajivpriya Fernando, in an open letter to Thilak Karunaratne, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC), has urged action against Sri Lankan parties named in the ‘Panama Papers’ fiasco. He has said that many high profile directors of listed and unlisted companies under the watch of the SEC have been allegedly hiding money in overseas accounts. “Our biggest worry as minority shareholders is that this money could be the pay offs for overseas purchases by over- valuing the cost of overseas purchases resulting in minority shareholders losing dividends annually.
You are known to be an honourable man. So please investigate the accounts of these persons to ascertain how they got this money and make them pay the taxes due to the government of Sri Lanka and the dividends due to shareholders,” the letter said. Mr. Fernando said independent directors responsible for looking after the interest of the public and minority shareholders should also be held accountable in these companies if the above has happened.