A Lakbima News cross-match of official corporate databases has identified four companies on the Registrar of Companies’ 2026 non-filer list that previously received Board of Investment tax concessions in 2022 or 2024.
The Registrar published its database on 13 July 2026, covering companies that had not submitted annual returns through 2025 according to eROC records as at 25 June.
Lakbima News analysed the underlying spreadsheet and compared those records with tax-certificate data published separately by the Ministry of Finance.
The matched companies are Platinum Realty Investments (Private) Limited, Abdulla International (Private) Limited, Northern Central Hospitals (Private) Limited and Golden Key Hospitals Limited.
Appearance on the non-filer list does not establish tax evasion, misuse of a BOI concession or shell-company activity. The tax certificates were issued before the Registrar’s June 2026 snapshot, and the available records do not state when each company fell behind on annual returns.
Five certificates across four companies
| Company | Registration | Certificate | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum Realty Investments (Private) Limited | PV8575 | Tax exemption | 24 Nov 2022 |
| Platinum Realty Investments (Private) Limited | PV8575 | Concessionary tax | 2 Sep 2024 |
| Abdulla International (Private) Limited | PV13623 | Concessionary tax | 24 Jan 2022 |
| Northern Central Hospitals (Private) Limited | PV72661 | Concessionary tax | 14 Aug 2024 |
| Golden Key Hospitals Limited | PB103 | Concessionary tax | 26 Sep 2024 |
Platinum Realty Investments appears twice in the Ministry of Finance records.
The 2022 Treasury list records a tax exemption certificate issued on 24 November 2022 under BOI agreement number 3540 for an infrastructure project. The 2024 records show a concessionary tax certificate issued on 2 September.
In the Registrar’s 2026 database, the company appears under registration number PV8575.
Abdulla International appears in the 2022 Treasury file. A concessionary tax certificate was issued on 24 January under BOI agreement number 3227. The company was classified under manufacturing. The Registrar records it under PV13623.
Northern Central Hospitals received a concessionary tax certificate on 14 August 2024 under BOI agreement number 4242. Its Registrar number is PV72661.
Golden Key Hospitals received a concessionary tax certificate on 26 September 2024 under BOI agreement number 3166. The Registrar records it under PB103.
Three of the 57 tax certificates appearing in Treasury’s 2024 file correspond to companies on the Registrar list. Two certificate entries from the 2022 file also match. Platinum Realty appears in both years.
A non-filer may still be operating
The Registrar’s publication should not be read as a list of dissolved businesses.
It records companies whose annual returns had not been filed through 2025 according to the eROC position on 25 June 2026.
The hospital continues to advertise medical services in Rajagiriya and appears in private healthcare regulatory records.
The company appears in later official records connected with a trademark application.
Inland Revenue records effective from January 2024 list the company under TIN 114439010 with SVAT status.
The company appears in a May 2021 inactive VAT list under TIN 114496456, before the later BOI certificates.
An annual return filed with the Registrar and a tax registration administered by Inland Revenue are different statutory requirements. A company can appear active in one government system while being behind in another.
The 2021 VAT entry for Platinum Realty does not establish that the company remained inactive afterwards. VAT status can change, and the IRD publication records its position at a particular date.
Annual returns are required under company law
Section 131 of the Companies Act requires a company to deliver an annual return to the Registrar at least once each year, except during the year in which it is incorporated.
The return is due within 30 working days of the annual general meeting and must be signed by a director and the company secretary.
Failure to comply is an offence. The Act provides for a fine of up to Rs.100,000 for the company on conviction and up to Rs.50,000 for an officer of the company who is in default.
An annual return is separate from an income tax return. It forms part of the statutory corporate record maintained under company law.
The filing has acquired additional importance since the Companies (Amendment) Act No. 12 of 2025 introduced formal beneficial-ownership disclosure requirements.
The records identify an administrative overlap. They do not establish fraud, tax evasion or improper approval of the BOI certificates.
The public records do not share a common identifier
The Registrar spreadsheet identifies companies by name and registration number.
Treasury’s BOI certificate files use company names, BOI agreement numbers, sectors, certificate categories and issue dates.
The public versions of the datasets do not provide a single corporate identifier that automatically joins those records.
Lakbima News standardised company names to account for differences such as “PVT LTD” and “PRIVATE LIMITED”, then manually checked the corresponding Registrar entries.
Company-name matching becomes less reliable where businesses have changed names, used abbreviations or been recorded differently by separate agencies.
The non-filer problem predates the July publication
The 126,708 entries cover companies of different ages and circumstances. Some may have ceased trading years ago. Others may be dormant. Some continue to appear in current commercial or government records.
A statement presented to Parliament for the year ending 31 December 2023 recorded Rs.1.529 billion in arrears of Registrar of Companies fees, including balances from earlier years.
That amount should not be treated as unpaid annual-return fees alone because the accounts include other fees administered by the Registrar.
Earlier Registrar performance documents have referred specifically to non-submission of annual returns, notices to companies, restrictions on certified copies and prosecution of active businesses that failed to file.
The July 2026 list therefore contains more than abandoned registrations.
The records do not show when each default began
The Registrar spreadsheet does not state the most recent annual return filed by each company.
It is therefore not possible from the published list to determine whether any of the four companies was already in default when its BOI tax certificate was issued.
A company may have been fully compliant when a certificate was granted and fallen behind later.
The database also does not show whether a company subsequently regularised its filings after the 25 June 2026 cut-off.
Lakbima News therefore does not describe the four companies as shell companies and has found no evidence in the documents reviewed that their BOI certificates were improperly issued.
The finding concerns the way company information sits across separate government systems.
Lakbima News previously examined a similar separation between assessment, records and enforcement in The Customs Gap: How Much Money Is Sri Lanka Leaving Behind? .
The Registrar’s July database contains 126,708 company-name entries.
Four companies in that file can also be traced directly to five BOI tax-certificate events published by the Treasury for 2022 and 2024.
The Registrar’s data is dated 25 June 2026. It does not record what happened after that date.
Lakbima News reached out to the four companies named in this report and to the Department of the Registrar of Companies to establish whether outstanding annual returns have since been regularised. Any responses received after publication will be added to this report.
