Mobitel official transferred for not giving ads to ‘Divaina’!

 Thursday, 14 August 2014 14:

Sri Lanka Telecom chairman Nimal Welgama has removed Mobitel channel head (marketing and advertising) Rukshan de Silva after he had ordered the reduction of the number of advertisements to ‘Divaina’ newspaper as its sale is on the decline, say internal sources of Mobitel.

Welgama is also chairman of Upali Newspapers, the publisher of ‘Divaina.’

A marketing survey island wide by Rukshan de Silva has shown that the sale of ‘Divaina’ has come down by 50 per cent. Therefore, he has ordered that the number of advertisements given to the newspaper be reduced by 50 pc. Angered by that order, Welgama has transferred him to the consumers division, whose head Chanaka Withanage has been appointed in his place. Chanaka is facing a disciplinary inquiry over a financial fraud.

Ajantha Seneviratne, the chief marketing officer during the period Leisha Chandrasena de Silva was head of SLT, was removed from the position and confined to a teleshop at Slave Island soon after Welgama took over office. Ajantha is an official who had saved between Rs. 300 million and 500 million for the institution during the period of the previous chairperson. The present chief marketing officer is Roshan Kaluarachchi, another official accused of financial fraud.

It is through Roshan that Welgama and Telecom director Shavindra Rajapaksa, second son of Chamal Rajapaksa, have given all SLT advertisements to Phoenix Advertising owned by Erwin Weerakkody.  By giving that advertising contract, both Welgama and Shavindra are obtaining financial gains, say the sources further.

Come on Nalini – Give more loans!

On Thursday, 14 August 2014

The National Savings Bank, considered the backbone of the nation’s saving, is setting yet another record in the Sri Lankan banking sector, say trade union sources of the bank. That record is that the NSB is running to the wants of its chairperson, who is without executive powers, while the bank is also without a chief executive or a general manager.

Incumbent chairperson W.A. Nalini had served as the NSB’s general manager for some time parallel to her posting at the Bank of Ceylon, and after Pradeep Kariyawasam, the husband of 43rd chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake, resigned as chairman, she was appointed to succeed him. This appointment was made by finance ministry Dr. Punchi Banda Jayasundara without approval from the president. That was because she was a batchmate of him at university.

After making her the chairperson, PB is directing the NSB unofficially through her. As his wishes, various persons are being given loans, loans are written off when not repaid, international bonds are issued in breach of the banking act, but in accordance with the ‘Punch Banda theory’. But, PB and Nalini had faced a barrier in their path in former GM and chief executive Hennayake Bandara.

He has pointblank refused to dance to their tune. An experienced banker, Hennayake Bandara has been performing his duties to safeguard the trust of hundreds of thousands of NSB customers and in accordance with the banking act, but that has not gone well with PB and Nalini. Therefore, their intention was to send him home as soon as possible. For that they had made plans.

As a result of this conspiracy by PB and Nalini, Hennanayake Bandara had been sent on forced retirement on June 17, six months before the date he was to retire. With the barrier in their path now cleared, PB and Nalini are enforcing the ‘Punchi Banda theory’ at their will and taking the NSB to ruin, say the bank’s TU sources further.