Were Geoff and Arjun given 450 acre tea estate for Rs. 8,000 a month?
In the wake of Perpetual Treasuries’ Chairman Geoff Aloysius’s dramatic arrest by the CID on Monday morning over the bond scam affair, an alarming claim has resurfaced to shock the conscience of a nation.
The claim was first published in a JVPleaning week newspaper in 2017 but none of the mainstream media took it up. It alleges that seven months after mega billion bank robbery took place and one month after the August General election in 2015, the UNP-held Ministry of Plantations had given a 450 acre government-owned tea estate to Geoffrey Aloysius and his son Arjun to enjoy its spoils for thirty years till 2045 for a mere 8,000 bucks a month on lease.
The allegation is that on September 26, the present government signed a lease agreement with Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius and his son Arjun Aloysius granting them ownership for thirty years at a sum of Rs. 8,000 a month the state- owned 450 acre Mahakudugal Tea Estate in Kandapola.
The tea estate owned by the Plantation Ministry had earlier been given to Mathurata Plantations and it is alleged that Geoffrey Aloysius had obtained it through a sub lease, even though it is further alleged, the company had no right to do so. To sign the agreement a new company called Serendipity Plantations chaired by Aloysius senior had been formed. The tea estate has two bungalows, houses for worker, a maternity home and a medical centre and also has some 19,000 valuable trees on the property.
Perhaps the Plantation Ministry may wish to clarify the matter and clear the air over this otherwise seemingly shady deal and set the record straight in the public interest.