New legislation is being drafted to strictly enforce rules pertaining to the 2013 ban on foreigners owning land, which is now being enforced through administrative circulars.
Top government sources said that proposed laws are to be promulgated to tighten loopholes in the administrative process of enforcement .
In the 2013 budget (presented in November 2012), the President proclaimed that foreign nationals and companies would be completely prohibited from owning freehold land in Sri Lanka. Until that time, foreigners were able to purchase land upon the payment of a 100 per cent transfer tax, which many were circumventing through ingenious methods of purchasing the land through a majority Sri Lankan nominee owned companies and later purchasing 100 per cent of the shares, the sources said.
(Source: Sunday Times)
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