EAP's financial arms may be managed by Bank of Ceylon

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has asked the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to be the managing agent for the financial arms of the EAP Group--Edirisinghe Trust Investments (ETI) and Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC.

Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim met the BOC board this week as part of negotiations for a possible management deal, authoritative sources said. Should the BoC be made managing agents, there would be more discussions in the coming weeks on terms and conditions, they said.

The businesses of EAP Holdings-including its broadcast and media arms- -are up for sale but it is understood that the CBSL is keen to strike a management arrangement for the finance companies of the group. A due diligence has already been done by auditors and studied by the BOC.

ETI, established 40 years ago, offers services in the areas of fixed deposits, gold loans, leasing, hire purchase, personal loans, business loans and mortgage loans. It has 46 branches around the country.

Swarnamahal Financial Services is a listed company licensed by the CBSL. It has 11 branches and six pawning centres.

A Malaysian businessman negotiating on behalf of a Singaporean company to buy EAP Group businesses was detained with three others at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) last month while attempting to smuggle out foreign currency.

Dollar notes amounting to US$ 50,000 were found in the hand baggage of Jaya Sudhir Jayaram. Two others--one of them was his son--also had US$ 50,000 each in their possession while the fourth carried US$ 58,000. This is a total of US$ 208,000 or Rs 31.8 million.