State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said there is absolutely no truth in the remarks made by US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Alaina B Teplitz that the Colombo Port City would be a money laundering haven.
We have not made any changes to the money laundering laws. Those laws are in line with the international anti-money laundering laws. I am surprised that the Ambassador made such a statement, the State Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
He said in the US itself, there is US$ 1.3 trillion invested by Luxembourg which has a population of nearly 633,000 people. If that country can invest US$ 1.3 trillion in the US, some people can allege that there are some money laundering opportunities.
Cayman Islands with a population of less than 65,000 has invested US$ 1.8 trillion in the US.
How can a tiny country such as the Cayman Islands invest US$ 1.8 trillion in the US? Then the question should be asked whose money is this?
Naturally, their checks and balances will have shown that these monies are not laundered money. If they can have checks and balances like that, why can’t we. The money that is coming here is not huge money like billions. These are much more modest sums of money. Therefore, I am actually surprised by the irresponsible comment made by such a responsible person.