COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s president Friday appointed the island’s biggest casino operator Dhammika Perera as Investment minister with responsibility over a Chinese-funded tax-free enclave in the impoverished South Asian nation.

The 54-year-old businessman known as Sri Lanka’s “Casino King” was sworn in by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at his sea-front residence to attract foreign capital into the country, his office said.

Perera replaced Rajapaksa’s youngest brother Basil who resigned from parliament two weeks ago as the ruling clan came under intense pressure to step down over economic mismanagement.

The president has refused to step down and instead appointed opposition legislator Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new prime minister last month to salvage the economy.

The president’s office said Perera’s investment ministry will have responsibilities over the $1.4 billion “Port City” land reclamation project which has been turned into a tax-free enclave in Colombo.