Sri Lanka Customs has recommended the re-export of 05 containers of imported salt after they failed to meet national quality standards.

According to Customs Spokesperson Seewali Arukgoda, all salt containers brought into the country are subject to rigorous standards testing. The five containers in question were found to be non-compliant with Sri Lanka Standards Certification requirements.

According to Customs, approximately 2,000 containers of salt have been imported under the relevant import permit.

MRP on salt

Earlier, The Sri Lanka Salt Manufacturers Association has announced that salt will now be sold under newly set Maximum Retail Prices (MRP), following an agreement with the Consumer Affairs Council.

This move comes after import restrictions were relaxed, and sufficient salt stocks have arrived in the country. The MRPs are as follows :

1 kg granular salt – Rs.180
1 kg salt powder – Rs.240
400 g salt powder – Rs.120

The Association stated that while distribution has begun, it may take a few days for the packaged salt to reach outlets islandwide. Consumers can expect to purchase salt at regulated prices once full distribution is in place.

Senior Lecturer Ven. Dambara Amila Thero has emphasised that the intervention of the government and University Grants Commission (UGC) is essential for a proper resolution to the prevailing crisis at the External Degrees and Extension Courses Unit of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Last Monday (June 23), the External Degrees and Extension Courses Unit of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) announced that all seminars and registration activities of external degree programmes will be temporarily suspended from June 24.

The suspension is due to issues and ambiguities arising from University Grants Commission (UGC) circulars No. 932, 1/2016, and 4/2016, issued since 2010.

The university states that efforts are underway to resolve the matter, and academic activities will resume as soon as the issues are cleared.

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Colombo Fort Magistrate – Nilupuli Lankapura has directed the CID to launch a full investigation into an alleged Rs.90 million fraud at the state owned People’s Bank.

The order follows a motion filed by Senior Counsel Gunaratna Wanninayake over the incident said to have occurred nearly a decade ago, calling for the perpetrators to be caught.

Accordingly, the CID’s Commercial Crimes Division was instructed to identify those responsible and report progress by July 30th.

The case originated from a CID complaint filed on October 28, 2015, by Chairman of Yashoda Holdings (Pvt) Ltd – Yasasiri Kasthuriarachchi. The case alleges that forged documents were used to fraudulently secure a loan by transferring property ownership.

Senior Counsel Gunaratna Wanninayake informed the court that a loan of Rs.90 million was secured by mortgaging a 48-acre land in Pasyala worth Rs.4,000 million inherited by his client – Kasthuriarachchi. The loan was obtained from the state bank using forged documents and without the loan money ever reaching his clients’ accounts.

He further noted that loans of this scale from a state bank usually require board-level approval, yet no such approval is on record prompting the question of who misappropriated the Rs.90 million.

He requested a full investigation into the incident.