Areca nut permits contrary to Cabinet orders

Mar 18, 2017

Areca nut permits contrary to Cabinet orders ^Featured

According to a Cabinet decision, in 2014 the permits granted for the import and export of Areca nuts under Temporary Importation for Export Processing (TIEP) was temporarily suspended. The current Cabinet too had so far not taken any new decision regarding this matter. However, the Sri Lanka Customs has illegally authorised three companies to import areca nuts.

This was revealed when three companies who had imported the areca nuts made a written request for the seed certification from the Agriculture Department.

The three companies are Fancy Traders, R.M. Holdings and Commodities for Porter.

These companies had produced the TIEP permits issued by the Sri Lanka Customs to the Agriculture Department and the Director General of the Agriculture Department had informed the Customs Director General to certify if the Customs permits produced were genuine.

When the Customs Spokesman was contacted in this regard, he said the relevant officer, Saman de Silva was currently overseas and a response could be given upon his return to the country.