Investors to wait for ‘shiny stamp’ to get genuine certificates
The ministry of investment has said it is waiting for shiny stamps to start issuing certificates to the investment companies.
Last month, the Minister of Investment, Dhieu Mathok Diing, issued an order cancelling all the investment certificates when they detected that most of the documents obtained from the ministry were forged.
On Monday, the Ministry announced the launching of new certificates and gave only one month for all the investors operating in the country to process new certificates to allow them to continue operating.
However, The City Review established that although the investors have started coming to process the new investment certificates, they will have to wait for a shiny stamp to be issued the certificates.
In an interview with The City Review on Wednesday, the Acting Director-General for Investor Services at the Ministry of Investment, Nyikwec Pakwan, said the stamp was expected to arrive in two days.
“We were supposed to start yesterday, but we could not because of a delay in the arrival of the shiny stamp. We are yet to have it. I understand [that] it will arrive today because of the company that was hired to produce it. We will start issuing it immediately, even if it arrives today, ” Pakwan said.
He said they will have to wait to get a complete document, even though some investors have turned up for the registrations.
“If we get it today, we will begin immediately. Yeah, the investors are coming, but they cannot come and go with a certificate that is not signed by the minister. “
“We keep telling them to wait and will be informed if the shiny stamp arrives, but they can continue with other processes,” he added.
On Monday, Mathok called on all the investors in the country to use February to voluntarily acquire new original documents before getting into trouble with authorities after the one-month grace period of registration elapses.
But due to the delays from the ministry, it is not clear whether the grace period will be extended.
“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 will 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 into a new genuine document with full charges.
“An old investment certificate that has expired and has not been renewed within the 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 would 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.
