EDB Chairman says he has been speared by the impeachment drama

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Chairman of the Export Development Board (EDB), Janaka Ratnayakae has told several employees at the Board that the evidence given in the impeachment hearings has re-assured him his post at the EDB for several more years, sources from the Board said.

The EDB Chairman giving evidence before the parliamentary select committee (PSC) that probed the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice had said on the 7th that he was the Managing Director of the Company that owned Trillium Residencies and that he had given a Rs. 1.6 million discount to the Chief Justice to purchase a luxury apartment n the residency following a request by her.

Ratanayake has been found guilty by court for an irregular share purchase that had taken place at the Merchant Bank during his tenure as the Chairman. He is to be convicted by court. This irregular transaction had figured when he had appeared before the PSC to give evidence in the impeachment hearing. However, the Central Bank Governor on a Presidential directive had in writing to the PSC, cleared Ratnayake’s name from the irregular share transaction issue.

The EDB is facing a downfall under Ratnayake’s chairmanship and a decision had been made to appoint Secretary of the Internal Trade Ministry, Sunil S. Sirisena as the chairman of the board. However, the President has now made an order asking that Ratnayake be allowed to hold the post for a few more years after he had given evidence before the PSC.

Ratnayake had told the EDB staff that his position in the Board is secure due to his close relationship to the President. However, sources at the EDB say that the Chairman was misleading the workers saying he was closely related to the President.