A draft amendment to the Companies Act which will for the first time compel businesses to disclose their beneficial owners has been placed on the order paper of Parliament.

The passing of the law will meet another International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural benchmark. The government undertook to enact amendments to the Companies Act to make the beneficial ownership framework consistent with FATF standards by the end of April 2025.

The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards are a set of international guidelines for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. Sri Lanka’s next evaluation of its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework is scheduled for March next year.

Beneficial ownership refers to people who “ultimately” control or benefit from a company, even if they are not the official, legal owner; in other words, the “real” owner or controlling party behind a legal entity.

The proposed amendment will allow the public to inspect the details of the beneficial owners of a company upon a request being made to the Registrar of Companies “but the details of the beneficial owners of the company shall be limited to their full names and the nature and extent of beneficial ownership of the company”.

Beneficial ownership transparency makes it more difficult to conceal illicit funds and engage in corrupt activities. Making the information publicly accessible enables law enforcement, civil society organisations and the public to better monitor and investigate cases of corruption, money laundering, and other financial crimes.

The Companies (Amendment) Bill requires companies to disclose not only the full names of their beneficial owners but also their previous full names (if any); their dates and places of birth, nationalities, countries of residence, and the last known addresses; their residential addresses, business addresses, email addresses, and postal addresses of beneficial owners of the company; and (d) their national identity card numbers or passport numbers with countries of issuance, tax identification, etc.

The relevant company shall maintain a register at its registered office for at least 10 years after the date on which the record was made.

The Registrar of Companies is also mandated to maintain a register. And the company or the Registrar shall make available the details of beneficial owners upon request by the Attorney General, the Director-General of Customs, the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue, any public authority having the responsibility for investigating or prosecuting money laundering, terrorist financing or any other criminal offences, public procurement authorities, or regulatory authorities.

Failure to disclose or providing false/misleading information is a criminal offence punishable by fines or imprisonment.

(sundaytimes.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by sundaytimes.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand will visit Sri Lanka from November 16 to 20, 2025, and participate in a series of events, as disclosed by the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Thailand, Wijayanthi Edirisinghe.

She told a team of Sri Lankan Journalists during a media visit arranged by Thai Airways via their General Sales Agent, Mac Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, that the highlight would be conducting over 100 Knee surgeries at Kandy hospital.

“This would be done free of charge with the participation of 30 doctors flying from Siriraj Hospital, the oldest and largest public hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.” The Royal Thai Embassy will assist with the event in Sri Lanka.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has made several visits to Sri Lanka, including an official four-day visit in August 2013. During her 2013 visit, she explored several historical sites with a Thai delegation.

She also disclosed that the evacuation of all 130 Sri Lankans who were kept against their will in Myanmar has been completed, and no Sri Lankans are remaining in those camps. “We worked with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), authorities in Thailand and Myanmar in this regard.”

“These Sri Lankans had been lured into Myanmar for employment, but became victims of human trafficking and cybercriminal operations.” Sri Lanka is currently completing the necessary steps for ratification of the FTA between the two countries. “

The Sri Lankan Government expects to finalize the ratification process as soon as possible, recognizing the potential benefits of the FTA, such as increased trade, economic growth, and improved diplomatic ties between the two countries.”

She also said that Tourist arrivals from Thailand to Sri Lanka gradually increased until 2019 and then decreased primarily due to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now increasing from 2022.

“The recovery continued, with 4,922 tourists from Thailand visiting Sri Lanka, which was an increase of 185.3% compared to 2022.

The number of tourists from Thailand increased by 47.2% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 7,246 tourists in 2024.

The number of tourist arrivals from January to April 2025 was 3,467, representing a 16.2% increase compared to 2024, which recorded 2,983 arrivals.

This is a strong indicator of continued growth, with numbers rapidly approaching the levels seen before the pandemic in 2019.

“She also thanked Thai Airways and MAC for actively promoting Sri Lanka as a destination.”

The ambassador said that with Thailand imposing the ‘Free Visa Arrival’ policy, one can observe more Sri Lankan arrivals to Thailand.

Most of their popular destinations are Bangkok, the Golden Temple, and Pattaya.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to the upcoming Group of Seven summit in a phone call on Friday (6), as the two sides look to mend ties after relations soured in the past two years.

The leaders agreed to remain in contact and looked forward to meeting at the G7 summit later this month, a readout from Carney’s office said.

India is not a G7 member but can be invited as a guest to its annual gathering, which will be held this year in Kananaskis in the Canadian province of Alberta, from June 15 to 17.

“Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister (Carney) … thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit,” Modi said in a post on X.

Modi also stated in his post on Friday that India and Canada would work together “with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests.”

Bilateral ties deteriorated after Canada accused India of involvement in a Sikh separatist leader’s murder, and of attempting to interfere in two recent elections. Canada expelled several top Indian diplomats and consular officials in October 2024 after linking them to the murder and alleged a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.

New Delhi has denied the allegations, and expelled the same number of Canadian diplomats in response.

India is Canada’s 10th largest trading partner and Canada is the biggest exporter of pulses, including lentils, to India.

Carney, who is trying to diversify trade away from the United States, said it made sense for the G7 to invite India, since it had the fifth-largest economy in the world and was at the heart of a number of supply chains.

“In addition, bilaterally, we have now agreed, importantly, to continued law enforcement dialogue, so there’s been some progress on that, that recognizes issues of accountability. I extended the invitation to prime minister Modi in that context,” he told reporters in Ottawa.

Four Indian nationals have been charged in the killing of the Sikh separatist leader.