The Hon. Wijesiri Basnayake
Hon. Wijesiri Basnayake explained that Sri Lanka’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework has been assessed under FATF and APG standards, with past grey-listing linked to strategic deficiencies. He stated that Sri Lanka complies with 39 of the 40 FATF Recommendations, but needs to improve implementation of Recommendation 24 on timely access to beneficial ownership information of legal persons. He said amendments to about 20 provisions of the Companies Act, No. 7 of 2007, including section 51, are being prepared in line with IMF recommendations and international standards.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 For the first time in 1990, FATF issued 40 Recommendations. After 9/11, nine Special Recommendations on terrorist financing were added, later consolidated back into 40. Sri Lanka, in the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), was assessed in 2016–2017 and found strategically deficient, placing us on the grey list. Today, of the 40 Recommendations, we implement 39; we have not adequately implemented Recommendation 24, which requires that beneficial ownership information of legal persons be collected, stored and available in a timely manner. We therefore use the Companies Act to comply. Our current section 51 is not aligned with international standards.
¶ 02 Accordingly, the IMF has recommended improving to global standards. We are gathering all necessary information to amend approximately 20 provisions of the Companies Act, No. 7 of 2007. That is what today’s debate addresses. Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 23 July 2025 ·No. 1754386160089643 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Wijesiri Basnayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 July 2025. No. 1754386160089643. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/4255