‘Crony brokers and market mafia? No! Not acceptable’
Dilith Jayaweera, a leading businessman and investor in the stock market, who has been ‘portrayed’ as one of the ‘leaders’ of ‘market mafia’ in town, says he is very confident that his company is definitely not part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) pending investigation, and so confirmed by SEC’s ex-chairman. He also reveals that he has already asked Dr. Karunaratne to come up with the names of the culprits and calls on him to complete the investigations he undertook but adds that the ex- chairman is ‘not in a position to name the culprits since it is unethical and illegal for him to disclose such information’.
You have said “apprehend the ‘market mafias” but the ex-Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief, Dr. Thilak Karunaratne claims that you are one of those ‘powerfuls’ who did a presentation at an uninformed meeting with the president and the (SEC) officials. It is said that the presentation was “a full blown attack on the SEC officials.” Dr. Karunaratne even says it was a “very unreasonable and unjustifiable attack on the SEC with full of hatred and venom.” Will you explain the presentation you had made?
The slide presentation only contained the facts quoted from various sources – including the cover of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) annual report, graphs of market performance over the years, scanned press cuttings published during the last two years, a copy of a letter sent by the SEC to an investor, an e-mail sent by a SEC personnel from an official address and some terms which have been ‘loosely’ used in media – all listed down in a few slides. I do not understand how one could call it ‘an unreasonable and unjustifiable attack on SEC full of hatred and venom.’
This presentation which was made by us was prepared within less than five hours, and it was intended to bring one important aspect of the market downfall to light – which is the perception created locally and internationally – and of course it was very clear when seeing the slides that the regulator has a reason to be responsible for the outcome.
It should be emphasized that it with the prior knowledge of Dr. Karunaratne that this presentation was made, therefore it is not a surprise and it would have been ideal if the SEC, CSE and the Brokers Association too made their presentations with visual aids in order to create better clarity than what they did at the presentation.
This particular presentation lasted less than 10 minutes, however, there were other verbal presentations made by Dr. Karunaratne, and even by some brokers and investors with various other ideas. It must be reiterated though that after the presentation was made to the president, Dr. Karunaratne decided to speak out that he doesn’t agree with what was presented, whilst he failed to reason out why he didn’t, or why and which part of the presentation he had an issue with.
– Dilith Jayaweera
Sunday 26 August 2012
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan
Dilith Jayaweera, a leading businessman and investor in the stock market, who has been ‘portrayed’ as one of the ‘leaders’ of ‘market mafia’ in town, says he is very confident that his company is definitely not part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) pending investigation, and so confirmed by SEC’s ex-chairman. He also reveals that he has already asked Dr. Karunaratne to come up with the names of the culprits and calls on him to complete the investigations he undertook but adds that the ex- chairman is ‘not in a position to name the culprits since it is unethical and illegal for him to disclose such information’.You have said “apprehend the ‘market mafias” but the ex-Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief, Dr. Thilak Karunaratne claims that you are one of those ‘powerfuls’ who did a presentation at an uninformed meeting with the president and the (SEC) officials. It is said that the presentation was “a full blown attack on the SEC officials.” Dr. Karunaratne even says it was a “very unreasonable and unjustifiable attack on the SEC with full of hatred and venom.” Will you explain the presentation you had made?
The slide presentation only contained the facts quoted from various sources – including the cover of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) annual report, graphs of market performance over the years, scanned press cuttings published during the last two years, a copy of a letter sent by the SEC to an investor, an e-mail sent by a SEC personnel from an official address and some terms which have been ‘loosely’ used in media – all listed down in a few slides. I do not understand how one could call it ‘an unreasonable and unjustifiable attack on SEC full of hatred and venom.’
This presentation which was made by us was prepared within less than five hours, and it was intended to bring one important aspect of the market downfall to light – which is the perception created locally and internationally – and of course it was very clear when seeing the slides that the regulator has a reason to be responsible for the outcome.
It should be emphasized that it with the prior knowledge of Dr. Karunaratne that this presentation was made, therefore it is not a surprise and it would have been ideal if the SEC, CSE and the Brokers Association too made their presentations with visual aids in order to create better clarity than what they did at the presentation.
This particular presentation lasted less than 10 minutes, however, there were other verbal presentations made by Dr. Karunaratne, and even by some brokers and investors with various other ideas. It must be reiterated though that after the presentation was made to the president, Dr. Karunaratne decided to speak out that he doesn’t agree with what was presented, whilst he failed to reason out why he didn’t, or why and which part of the presentation he had an issue with.
