Australian Casino kingpin role in SL bussiness questioned

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TUESDAY, 04 JUNE 2013 17:51
The Government today denied that the 400 room mixed facility building that is beings set up along D.R.Wijewardena Mawatha in Colombo is not for a casino complex but will consist of a retail shopping facility , entertainment facilities, fine dining restaurants and meeting and convention facilities.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Investment promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena disclosed this in response to a query raised DNA MP Anura Kumara Dissanayaka who asked if the land has been let out to the company owned by Australian Casino kingpin James Packer to build a multi-story casino complex.

The DNA MP also queried why the government was giving so many tax concessions to the project.

The Minister denied that the complex was for a casino and said it was being set to attract more tourists as the government gears to welcome up to 2.6 million tourists into the country by 2016.

The said the project could generate direct employment to 2,600 persons and indirectly too many others.

The investment on the project is US $ 300 million, he said,
http://sundaytimes.lk/latest/34257-australian-casino-kingpin-role-in-sl-casino-bussiness-questioned.html[quote]

sriranga

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Opposition MP Dr. Harsha De Silva told The Island Financial Review that he smelled something fishy minutes after Deputy Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told Parliament yesterday (04) that the US$ 350 million investment by casino magnate James Packer and Sri Lanka’s Rank Entertainment was not for a casino to be built on land along D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha.

Abeywardena told Parliament yesterday that the Packer and Rank Entertainment investment was for a mixed development project and not a casino. He said the project would be approved in Parliament in due course. The Deputy Minister also said the project was not considered a strategic investment by the government.

The US$ 350 million project would be shared by Packer’s M/S Crown Ltd (55 percent) and Rank Entertainment (45 percent).

"I smell something fishy. I am sceptical and not willing to believe the government’s explanation. If it is not for a casino then the why is James Packer, the region’s biggest casino magnate, and Rank Entertainment, Sri Lanka’s biggest casino operator, coming together? And if the project is not a strategic investment, then why does it need parliament’s approval," Dr. De Silva, a trained economist, asked.

"I have consistently maintained that the government had amended the Strategic Investments Act and the Betting and Gaming Act solely to accommodate Packer’s investment here in Sri Lanka. The Treasury has also written to the BOI requesting that the project received a ten year tax holiday and various concessions on Customs duty and VAT. The betting and gaming tax was also reduced to a low 5 percent," he said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=80585

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Australian Casino kingpin role in SL bussiness questioned

1 Australian Casino kingpin role in SL bussiness questioned Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:03 pm

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2 Harsha smells something fishy:Govt says Packer investment not a casino Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:12 pm

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