{"id":113418,"date":"2021-04-11T14:50:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T21:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113418"},"modified":"2021-04-11T14:50:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-11T21:50:39","slug":"us-envoy-warns-china-backed-colombo-port-project-may-create-safe-haven-for-money-launderers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/11\/us-envoy-warns-china-backed-colombo-port-project-may-create-safe-haven-for-money-launderers\/","title":{"rendered":"US envoy warns China-backed Colombo Port project may create safe haven for money launderers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The Hindustan Times<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>\n\nSri Lanka has unveiled draft legislation for a Colombo Port City Commission which allows for sweeping tax breaks, tax-free salaries and to be an offshore financial centre.ANI |PUBLISHED ON APR 11, 2021 04:36 PM IST<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.hindustantimes.com\/img\/2021\/04\/11\/550x309\/AFP_94E269_1618139029816_1618139053208.jpg\" alt=\"A general view of the Chinese-funded project for the Port City is pictured in Colombo(AFP)\"\/><figcaption> A general view of the Chinese-funded project for the Port City is pictured in Colombo(AFP) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Alaina Teplitz on Saturday warned Sri Lanka of unintended consequences of &#8216;nefarious actors&#8217; who may try to misuse a China-backed Colombo Port City&#8217;s easy business rules as a permissive money laundering haven amid concerns of tax leaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka has unveiled draft legislation for a Colombo Port City Commission which allows for sweeping tax breaks, tax-free salaries and to be an offshore financial centre, reported economynext.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Any legislation relating to the port city has to be considered very carefully for its economic impact,&#8221; Teplitz told reporters in Colombo in an online discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;And of course among those un-intended consequences could be creating a haven for money launderers and other sorts of nefarious actors to take advantage of what was perceived as a permissive business environment for activities that would actually be illegal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The agency running the Port City would have extensive powers to exempt businesses from taxes of up to 40 years, though it is not a tax haven in the traditional sense, reported economynext.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The Hindustan Times Sri Lanka has unveiled draft legislation for a Colombo Port City Commission which allows for sweeping tax breaks, tax-free salaries and to be an offshore financial centre.ANI |PUBLISHED ON APR 11, 2021 04:36 PM IST US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Alaina Teplitz on Saturday warned Sri Lanka of unintended [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}