Hayleys Free Zone Limited absolved from any involvement in importing garbage to Sri Lanka while putting the blame solely on Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Limited, the importer of these discarded mattresses from UK.
Hayleys Free Zone company vehemently denied allegations against it in the light of recent adverse media publicity in relation to 130 container loads of used mattresses that are currently stored at its yard premises.
The company clarified that these mattresses were imported by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Limited, who is the actual owner of the cargo.
In the wake of this incident, the Government has been urged to tighten entrepôt trade regulations introduced by then president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2013 which allows re-exporting rackets of unscrupulous exporters to enjoy tariff relief, customs officers emphasised.
The gazette notification No. 1818-30 issued during the Rajapaksa regime has provided provisions for import and re-export goods without the control of Customs Ordinance, Exchange Control Act, and Import – Export Control Act etc.
These regulations indirectly paved the way for racketeers to exploit its loop holes in manipulating entrepôt trade without considering the country’s economic prosperity and environment, General Secretary of All Ceylon Customs Service Union J.A. Gunatilleke said.
Hayleys Free Zone is a legal entity established under the Commercial Hub Regulation Act No.1 of 2013 and operates as an offshore location to provide logistics services to global clients, mainly with the aim of offering storage and value added services for re-export, as done in other free zones across the Globe.
Under this set up several environmentalists questioned as to whether this service provider could be absolved from its involvement in storing and reprocessing environmentally hazardous stock of discarded mattresses in question.
It cannot be absolved from chargers of aiding and abetting, they said adding that under the present regulations the service provider is also a party in enrepot procedures .
Hayleys Free Zone entered into an agreement with the freight forwarder ETL Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, who was appointed by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, for the purpose of processing and re-exporting the mattresses in question.
The said cargo was consigned to Hayleys Free Zone by the freight forwarder ETL Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, as per the Hub Regulation where it states that any cargo arriving at the Free Zone premises must be consigned to the Free Zone operator.
The company further stated that the cargo in question was accepted to the Hayleys Free Zone yard, after carefully scrutinising the documents which stated that the 130 containers were non- hazardous cargo.
In light of the current situation, Hayleys Free Zone revealed that it has taken a decision to processes these mattresses and re-export them expeditiously at the cost of the company.
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