10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Anuradhapura· 23 July 2025 ·Debate: Debate: Companies (Amendment) Bill – Second Reading

Public FinanceCorruption & Governance Reform
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Foreign companies registering in Sri Lanka would be required to make beneficial ownership disclosures to the Registrar of Companies in line with FATF standards and regional practice. Wasantha Samarasinghe said delays since 2017 reflected reluctance to ensure transparency, and argued that the amendments would prevent individuals using proxies or unexplained wealth to acquire major stakes without declaring funding sources and taxes paid.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, foreign companies registering in Sri Lanka will also be subject to these disclosures upon registration with the Registrar of Companies, in line with FATF standards adopted by Asia-Pacific peers, including India. Past delays since 2017 were due to reluctance to be transparent. With these amendments, individuals cannot hide behind proxies or unexplained wealth to acquire large stakes without disclosing source and taxes paid.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 ·No. 1754386160089643 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 July 2025. No. 1754386160089643. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/4171