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On the heels of the sudden Government decision to wind up by the end of the month, the National Procurement Agency, which was set up to tackle corruption in Government tender procedures, came the sudden decision this week by the Presidential Secretariat to call for the resignation of Land Reform Commission Chairman Lakshman Hirimuthugoda.

Shortly after Mr. Hirimuthgoda tendered his immediate resignation on Thursday; the LRC staff sent a signed petition to President Mahinda Rajapaksa asking him to reinstate Mr. Hirimuthugoda’s services. When The Sunday Times asked Mr. Hirimuthugoda the reason for his abrupt resignation, he said he resigned for ‘family reasons’, and would revert to his legal practice.

But other sources said his resignation was called for in writing by the Presidential Secretariat and he was likely to be offered a much bigger assignment. Several attempts made to contact President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga in this regard failed. There was speculation that Mr. Hirimuthugoda’s position would now be offered to Telecom Chairman Weerasinghe de Silva, a son-in-law of late LSSP Leader Dr Colvin R. de Silva.

Sources said the actual target in this whole exercise could be Mr. de Silva. In the event of Mr. de Silva becoming LRC Chairman the question being asked is who gets the prized post at Telecom. Among the names mentioned to be the next Telecom Chairman are Leisha Chandrasena and Priyantha Kariyapperuma. Ms. Chandrasena, an attorney-at-law is already a director of Telecom.

Early last year the Supreme Court put on hold a move to sell a large stake in Telecom held by NTT to the largest telephone operator in Malaysia, Maxis Telecom. The NTT owns about 38 per cent of Telecom and under the shareholder agreement it also has the right to appoint its CEO.

Recently Priyantha Kariyapperuma was appointed the Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Early last year he had to leave the National Lotteries Board under a cloud after allegations of misuse of funds were levelled against him.