World News | Sri Lankan Court Extends Order to Block Payment to Chinese Company Amid Contaminated Fertiliser Row
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. A Sri Lankan commercial court here has extended the order to block a payment of USD 4.9 million to a China-based company over the shipment of organic fertilizer, which was found to be contaminated following tests.
Colombo, Nov 6 (PTI) A Sri Lankan commercial court here has extended the order to block a payment of USD 4.9 million to a China-based company over the shipment of organic fertilizer, which was found to be contaminated following tests.
The extension of the enjoining order on Friday means that the local People's Bank cannot make payment to the Chinese company until November 19 when the case will be heard again.
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The state owned Ceylon Fertilizer Company Limited had obtained the commercial high court order on October 22 to block payment to China-based Qingdao Seawin Biotech over shipment of organic fertilizer.
Sri Lanka refused to accept the shipment after it was found to be contaminated following tests carried out by the National Plant Quarantine Service.
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Reacting to reports that the shipment was on its voyage back to Sri Lanka with the same contaminated cargo, Sri Lanka's authorities said the ship would not be allowed entry into ports.
The ship which had set sailed originally from China's Qingdao port in mid-September was diverted to Singapore when the dispute arose.
The Chinese embassy here protested the decision and said the Chinese seller requests both parties to entrust the Swiss SGS group to do resampling to test if the shipment had been contaminated.
On October 29, the Chinese Embassy blacklisted People's Bank for not making the payment to the company.
It insisted that the decision made by the Sri Lankan authorities to reject organic fertilizer is not only questionable but also causing great financial loss to the Chinese company.
In its response over blacklisting, the bank said it was legally bound to honour the court order.
The bank assured the Chinese company that once the “legal barriers are removed, the Letter of Credit payment will be effected promptly.”
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)