UL without any documents on appointing reinsurance broker

By Rathindra Kuruwita-December 11, 2018, 11:54 pm 

The insurance division of SriLankan Airlines did not have any documents to prove board approval for awarding MS Willis the contract as reinsurance broker in 2008, Rajinda Fernando, Senior Insurance Executive of the airline told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka, yesterday.

Testifying before the PCoI, Fernando said that, in February 2008, former Insurance Manager, Aruna Kalubowila had asked two companies, Willis and Mills, to submit proposals as the reinsurance broker for SriLankan. Chairperson of SriLankan at the time Harry Jayawardena had told her that a global tender should be called and at least the top three companies for airline reinsurance should be allowed to submit bids.

The Chairperson had stressed the need to prevent any allegations of corruption from being levelled against the institution and ordered a transparent bidding process, Fernando said, noting that he had also said that SriLankan could be probed by various parliamentary committees and the bribery commission. However, since the contract with the previous reinsurance company, Willis, was to expire on March 31, there was a time constraint, Fernando said.

Kalubowila had written back to the Chairperson that it was better to stick to Willis and Mills due to the time factor.

However, the Chairperson had insisted on a global bidding process, Fernando said, referring to documents.

However there were no documents to show the outcome of the process of awarding the contract.

The documents for 2012 showed that Willis had been offered the contract, but there wasn’t any proof of a contract in the files at the Insurance Division.

The PCoI directed the Attorney General’s Department officials to contact either the legal division or the Chairperson at that time to ascertain what had happened.