Disgraced Sri Lankan businessman Lalith Kotelawala on Thursday pulled out of a bid to be re-elected director of Ceylinco Insurance at the company’s AGM on May 26, after a chorus of protests over his plan.
In a statement to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the company said Kotelawala had advised that he was not seeking re-election and would thus cease to be a director after the AGM.
Despite last year’s drama over the Ceylinco Group-related, Golden Key fiasco, he has remained as the company’s chairman/managing director but has not been involved in its affairs, company officials said.
Kotelawala was listed in the agenda of the May 26 AGM as seeking re-election, but the Business Times in a recent report quoted several analysts as expressing shock over the move, saying it was a case of ‘impropriety’ for the Ceylinco Group chairman to do so having been accused of misusing billions of rupees worth of depositors’ funds in the Golden Key scam.
Several cases including Golden Key are before court. Kotelawala, who was in remand for several months and is now out on bail, is yet to be charged as prosecutors continue to collect evidence against the once-powerful businessman, his absconding wife, and directors. Focus is primarily now on the recovery of his and the company assets, and its sale to pay-off hundreds of desperate depositors. |
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