Dhanapala May Be Influenced By Large Payment He Receives From Dialog – Professor Kumar David
March 21, 2014
“I have thought about Dhanapala’s position quite a bit. Dialog clearly considers him a valuable person and seems to pay him well for his services on the Board. I have no problem with that. However, irrespective of whether I was a member of the Friday Forum, Bolshevik Party or anything else, I would have a problem if a company on whose board I served, engaged in unethical practices.” says Professor Kumar David.
Prof. Kumar David
Commenting under the article ” ‘Dhanapala’s Position Ethically Untenable’ Says Dr. Pradeep Jeganathan“, Professor David said; “The question then is this. Is Dialog engaging in unethical and indefensible practices by illegally blocking Colombo Telegraph and presumably other websites because they open their columns to writers who are anti-government (and others who are pro-government as well)? The very posing of the question so explicitly makes obvious the answer. Dialog, and the other Internet service providers who engage in such activities are in violation of the Telecommunication Regulations and it would not be unfair to call them servile political stooges. In Dhanapala’s case this is compounded by the thought in many people’s minds, and I admit in my mind too, that he may be influenced by the apparently large payment he receives for his services on the Board.”
Jayantha Dhanapala, a prominent member of the Sri Lankan civil society group, the Friday Forum, is a member of the board of directors of Dialog Axiata PLC. Dialog one of Sri Lanka’s key telecommunications providers, has been surreptitious blocking access to Colombo Telegraph, over a period of time.
Dhanapala, in his communications with Colombo Telegraph uses the word ‘alleged’, implying that he is not certain if indeed Dialog had blocked Colombo Telegraph. However, our investigations reveal that he had told his friends that he could not access Colombo Telegraph. This was 7-10 days prior to our first communication ( February 17, 2014) with him. The use of the word is inexplicable since Colombo Telegraph provided him with the technical report which clearly shows that Dialog was indeed blocking Colombo Telegraph. Dhanapala has claimed that he is a regular reader of Colombo Telegraph. As such it would be strange indeed if he, a Director of Dialog, was using another internet service provider to access the site. “Its also quite surprising that he would use the term, ‘alleged’ to describe the blocking, when neither he, Friday Forum nor Dialog has contested the US State Department’s HR report for 2013, which reports the blocking of CT from Sri Lanka.” Dr. Pradeep Jeganathan, told Colombo Telegraph. Read More
