News
Chinese Embassy blacklists People’s Bank over fertilizer LC

Bank claims temporary delay due to a court order
Chinese companies warned about PB LCs
by Shyam Nuwan Ganewatte
The Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo on Friday blacklisted the People’s Bank accusing the bank of not honouring a Letter of Credit.
The Ceylon Fertilizer Company had secured a court order to block the payment of $4.9 million to Qingdao Seawin Biotech over a shipment of organic fertilizer which was found to be contaminated. The order prevented the People’s Bank from making payments under an LC opened in favour of the Chinese company.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said that the People’s Bank did not make payment for the fertilizer exported by China under a contract between the two parties.
He said that the Economic and Commercial Office of the embassy has warned all Chinese enterprises against accepting any LC from the People’s Bank.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that the payment under the Letter of Credit had been suspended over a court order.
He said that the suspension was a temporary measure and the payments would be made once the legal barriers are cleared.
A spokesman for the People’s Bank too said that they were not in a position to make the payment due to the court order preventing such payment.
The bank clarified in a statement that that it was bound by a court order regarding the transaction at issue and its position was conveyed to the Chinese Embassy.
It describe the issues as a “temporary delay” in processing and that as a responsible corporate citizen it was bound by the court direction. Payment would be promptly made once the legal barriers are cleared, it said.
News
Hundreds fired at aviation safety agency, union says
The Trump administration has begun firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, according to the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union, weeks after a fatal mid-air plane collision in Washington DC.
Several hundreds of the agency’s probationary workers – who have generally been in their positions for less than a year – received the news via email late on Friday night, a statement from PASS’s head, Alex Spero said.
It is a part of a cost-cutting drive, driven by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge)., that aims to drastically cut the federal workforce.
Spero called the firings “shameful” and said they “will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin”.
News
The term of Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar extended

The term of Acting President of the Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar has been extended.
Accordingly, Justice Mohammed Thahir Laffar took his oath before President Anura Kumara Disanayake at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday (17). Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake was also present on this occasion.
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