Thread by @nimilamalee

Investigative journalists know that every administration has its deal-makers. And one of the mysteries of the Yahapalana govt is the #Hambantota Silver Park project.

THREAD (1)

March 6, 2019: Cabinet approved Malik Samarawickrama’s memo to lease out 400 acres in Hambantota for a petroleum refinery as a joint venture between Silver Park International (Pvt) Ltd, Singapore, and the Ministry of Oil & Gas of Sultanate of Oman. (2)

It was said Accord and Omani Ministry signed the US$ 3.8bn deal to build a 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery in 44 months. Even Chinese investment into Port City stopped at US$ 1.4bn while China Merchants Port Holdings spent US$ 1.12bn to lease and manage the Hambantota port. (3)

The details were sketchy. And, on March 20, Oman’s Oil Ministry DENIED being part of the $3.85 billion plan, even after Sri Lanka announced its involvement. (4)
reuters.com/article/sri-la…

On March 21, Sri Lanka’s BOI admitted there was NO agreement with Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas. "However, we're aware that Oman Oil Company has registered their firm intention to participate in equity up to 30%, subject to reaching agreement between the parties”. (5)

March 22: @Meerasrini broke the story that stakes in the deal’s Singapore-based company were held by a family member of former Union Minister of State, the DMK’s S Jagathrakshakan. (6)
thehindu.com/news/national/…

March 24: We @timesonline published our own investigation. We found that the son of the controversial DMK politician was a director in, not one, but TWO companies incorporated in Sri Lanka. (7)

sundaytimes.lk/190324/news/hu…

The initial shareholders of Silver Park International (Pvt) Ltd, set up in September 2018, were Sundeep Anand (son) and his wife Sri Nisha. A third shareholder was a 39-year-old man with no public profile from Ward 02 Mulliyavalai in Mullaitivu named Kunasingham Jasoharan. (8)

Separately, Silver Park Petroleum (Pvt) Ltd was incorporated in Sri Lanka on February 21, 2019, just SIX days after Samarawickrama's Cabinet paper. Directors were Sundeep Anand, Sri Nisha, Mullaitivu resident Kunasingham Jasoharan and an engineer, TAG Gunasekera. (9)

There were no Omanis or reps of any Omani parties in either company. (10)

A Cabinet paper we obtained said the BOI received the original investment as far back as November 10, 2016. But information online showed Silver Park International (Pte) Ltd was incorporated on June 15, 2017, in Singapore. (11)

This was several months AFTER that first investment proposal was submitted to the BOI in Sri Lanka. (12)

Silver Park was registered to 18, Roberts Lane, #03-01 Goodland Building, Singapore (218297) —the main address Sigma Corporate Solutions whose business was setting up companies. (13)

Its website said it specialised in ten major jurisdictions: British Virgin Islands, Cayman Island, Samoa, Seychelles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Anguilla, Bahamas, Delaware and Mauritius. (14)

Public information showed that Jegathrakshagan Sundeep Anand was registered with the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs as a director of at least 19 companies. It wasn’t immediately clear a new entity in Singapore was needed to channel their investment into Sri Lanka. (15)

One of the Sri Lankan addresses of Jagathrakshakan and his wife was 143B, Messenger Street, Colombo-12. We found it to be a shop called Bath Galaxy that sold tiles, sanitary ware, aluminium doors and bathroom accessories. It had no Omani or Indian partners. (16)

The other address listed in the Silver Park Petroleum incorporation papers is 50, Allium Tower, 4/3 Suwisuddharama Road, Colombo 6, Thimbirigasyaya. The flat was rented by a party but had no inhabitants at the time the story was published. (17)

The Indian address of the couple was 1, 1st Main Road, Kasturibai Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 600020, Tamil Nadu. This is where the Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, started by Mr Jagathrakshan, is located. (18)

Samarawickrama told Cabinet it's our largest FDI to date. Even before Oman had agreed, he claimed: “The investment is from a Singapore registered company and the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate of Oman is one of the equity participants with 30% equity.” (19)

Cabinet papers pointed to 2 other prospective investors, including a Chinese party that had dropped out. The other, from Sugih Energy International, “is being pursued and will initiate upon allocation of initial plots of land, most probably in March 2019”. (20)

So now there were TWO projects: Silver Park and Sugih International. Samarawickrama told Cabinet a joint memorandum seeking approval for incentives for both will be submitted in due course. (21)

March 25: Omani Oil and Gas Minister arrives for ground-breaking ceremony of the Hambantota refinery. Mohammed Hamal Al Rumhy also met Ranil Wickremesinghe, then PM. But a spox said it was a “courtesy call” and that the Minister had shown “general interest in Sri Lanka”. (22)

The spox also confirmed to @timesonline that the Omani Government had not invested any funds, nor agreed to invest any money so far on the project, but was awaiting the feasibility report to take a decision. (23)

The project’s “main promoter” was interviewed saying discussions with the“$7bn assets-rich Accord Group Chief Jagathrakshakan “had begun as far back as October 2015”. (24)

Mohammed Riyas said had it not been for the delay in releasing the land, “the multiple benefits accruing exports-oriented project would have been commissioned by now”. (25)

On November 14, 2019—two days before the Presidential Election when it was prohibited to enter into such contracts—the BOI signed an agreement with Sugih International for a US$ 24bn oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Hambantota. (26)

dailymirror.lk/print/business…

The total investment of both: US$ 27.8bn. But there were no feasibility studies, no partners, no environmental impact assessments, no basis for the massive figures cited, no Omanis, just preliminary proposals and, in the case of Sugih, an “agreement”. (27)

Nothing came through. When @timesonline filed a request in early 2020 under the Right to Information Act to determine the status of the project, the BOI issued a blanket refusal saying there was ongoing Criminal Investigation Department inquiry into the Silver Park project. (28)

Mohammed Riyas, the promoter, told us last week that he has “no comment” on the project. Danny Lee, the Sugih International Director who signed the second agreement, was contacted via personal email (he appears to have changed workplaces) and did not reply. (END)