Thursday, May 9, 2019

Ncell managing director Suren J Amarasekera steps down

Weeks after Ncell’s tax dispute reached the Supreme Court and also the International Centre for the Settlement of the Investment Disputes in Singapore, the managing director of the Ncell Suren J Amarasekera has resigned from his post.
Amarasekera notified Ncell this week that he was stepping down from his post citing personal and family reasons, according to a source at the telecom company. “Friday will be his last day in the office as according to him,” he added.
Before joining Ncell in Kathmandu, Amarasekera had worked as the strategic project's director for Axiata Group Berhad’s corporate headquarters in Malaysia, focusing on key group initiatives across its South Asian operations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Amarasekera was appointed the managing director of the telecom service provider in July 2017, a year after Ncell’s majority ownership was bought by Malaysia-based Axiata Group Berhad from TeliaSonera.
Ncell moved to Supreme Court and also International Centre for the Settlement of the Investment Disputes in Singapore after the Large Taxpayers Office asked it to pay Rs 39.06 billion as capital gains tax (CGT).
Though, the tax dispute is said to do nothing with Amarasekera’s resignation, the Supreme Court – last week – continued an earlier interim order barring the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) from collecting the dues it had determined after Ncell filed a writ challenging the procedure adopted and the amount determined by the tax authority.
Axiata has notified its shareholders on April 26 that its subsidiaries – Axiata, UK and Ncell – had filed a request for arbitration at the Singapore-based settlement centre, claiming that Nepal’s conduct with regards to the CGT contravenes international law obligations under the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the two countries.

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