Petition against proposed sale of Telecom shares

 



The Supreme Court yesterday allowed Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera to substitute for the late Parliamentarian Sripathi Sooriarachchi, who had petitioned the Supreme Court challenging the proposed sale of Sri Lanka Telecom shares, owned by the NTT Communication of Japan, to Global Telecommunication Holdings of Netherlands.

P. A. Ratnayake, PC, and Additional Solicitor General, told Court that if the shares held by NTT communications of Japan fell below ten percent of the entirety of Sri Lanka Telecom Limited, the present agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the Japanese entrepreneur, would terminate. The government may or may not enter into a new agreement. However, the government will make the public aware of any fresh agreement procedure. At present, the Japanese partner holds 35.2 percent of the SLT. The case will be mentioned next week, regarding the issue.


The Bench comprised the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justice Shirani Tilekewardene and Justice Andrew Somawansa.