Investors given one month to process new certificates
The Ministry of Investment has given only one month for all the investors operating in the country to process new certificates to allow them to continue operating.
This comes after the Minister of Investment, Dhieu Mathok Diing, issued an order last month cancelling all the investment certificates when they detected that most of the certificates obtained from the ministry were fraudulently acquired.
Addressing the press yesterday, Mathok said the new registration for the “real certificates” would be launched today at the ministry complex.
He urged all companies to turn up for the exercise to obtain valid investment certificates, as they are only given one month to register their companies.
Mathok said although the cases of fake and forged certificates have been taken to court, the ministry has noted that the issue of forgeries is continuing.
“We have detected some investment certificates that have recently been issued to investors, which made us take administrative measures to rescue the situation and boost investor trust and confidence in the country, and also, to rescue the lost revenue to the government account,” Mathok revealed.
He called on all the investors in the country to use the month of February to voluntarily change their fake investment certificates to the new original ones before getting into trouble with authorities after the one-month grace period of registration elapses.
However, the investment minister added that the exercise did not have much effect on the investors, saying that the ministry used to issue certificates to the investors on an annual basis.
Mathok stated that two teams have already been formed by the ministry to follow up the operation, and the teams were divided according to the sectors.
“They are the groups that are going to deal with companies, hospitals, and hotels, among other related sectors, and now the two teams. We are not expecting them to be active now, although they will help to promote the information, they are going to be more active after one month. “
“If one month ends and March comes, and we still note that there are companies that are not coming, this team will go out, and it will now involve legal measures. It is where we are going to question the investors about why they failed to comply with the orders, ” he stressed.
Some of the guidelines given by Mathok for converting the old investment certificates to the new ones include: An old investment certificate that has been valid for more than three months will be exchanged for a new investment certificate at no cost.
Also, an old investment certificate with a validity period of fewer than three months will be renewed and converted to a new investment certificate with full charges.
“An old investment certificate that has expired and has not been renewed within the Q period will be renewed and changed to a new investment certificate with full charges and penalties for failing to comply with the Investment Promotion Act of 2009 by failing to pay all subsequence years that were not paid,” he added.
Mathok reiterated that “fake” investment certificates will be replaced with new ones containing all charges. He said no legal measures will be taken against the holders of “fake” investment certificates if detected, and the current investment certificates will continue to be operational until March 2022.
