{"id":58231,"date":"2016-09-02T09:04:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T15:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=58231"},"modified":"2016-09-02T01:27:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T08:27:19","slug":"foreign-investment-and-attitude-of-high-commission-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/09\/02\/foreign-investment-and-attitude-of-high-commission-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign investment and attitude of High Commission in London .."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

After living many years in London I returned to Sri Lanka with an investment to commence a shipyard operation and also to move into Marina Development. British Investor who plans to come in December wanted me to talk to a local bank in order to open a SIA ( share investment account in pounds) ) ,and I brought the application forms when I return last week .<\/p>\n

Local bank wanted me to get the investor\u2019s signature verified and witnessed by the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London\u00a0 and get them to\u00a0 apply stamp after his signature .Bank confirmed that it is a rule and we have to abide by the rule .<\/p>\n

I called the Trade Secretary in the Sri Lankan High Commission and requested for an appointment to meet one of the officers to witness him signing the form .The Trade Commissioner in London responded as follows<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
Sarath<\/strong>\u00a0<saraobey@gmail.com><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n3:59 PM (9 hours ago)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
to\u00a0trade<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My colleague who wants to open SIA account in Sampath bank has to get his signature on the bank account form<\/p>\n

Please cheek and let me know<\/p>\n

07900215326<\/a>\u00a0–<\/p>\n

Please see the reply below <\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n
Trade Division – The High Commission of Sri Lanka – United Kingdom<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<trade@slhc-london.co.uk><\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n4:37 PM (8 hours ago)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
to\u00a0me<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Dear Dr. Obeysekera,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Consular Section, the applicant first has to get his signature certified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then come to the High Commission for its attestation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Mr. Pathirathne is out of office at present, you may speak to Mr. Amila at the Consular Section for more details.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nimal Karunatilake<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Minister (Commercial)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka High Commission<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

13\u00a0Hyde Park\u00a0Gardens<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

London\u00a0W2 2LU<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why should \u00a0an investor who wants to send money to Sri Lanka\u00a0 go to \u00a0Commonwealth Office and get the signature verified and then come back to High Commission to attest ??<\/p>\n

As the investor is unable to come personally to the bank in Sri Lanka ,Bank wanted him ONLY to confirm that it is his signature ! They just have to ask him to sign on the form and the any officer in the High Commission should witness him signing and confirm !<\/p>\n

Government recently wanted foreign national to deposit money ( 300,000 $ ) to grnat 10 year visa .<\/p>\n

Who will bother to run around London to get his signature verified?<\/p>\n

Minister of foreign affairs who talks much about brnging investment to Sri Lanka should investigate and take action and issue instructions to the Embassies all over the world to promote foreign nationals to invest in Sri Lanka rather than sending them from pillar to post.<\/p>\n

What a farce ?<\/p>\n

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera After living many years in London I returned to Sri Lanka with an investment to commence a shipyard operation and also to move into Marina Development. British Investor who plans to come in December wanted me to talk to a local bank in order to open a SIA ( share investment account […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58231","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=58231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}