Former SEC chief Godahewa emerges as a UPFA supporter
View(s):Nalaka Godahewa, Sri Lanka’s former high profile Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman, who once said he was not a political appointee, emerged this week – after a near 6-month absence from the public spotlight – as a supporter of the opposition United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
He was shown on a local television station on Tuesday night addressing a UPFA political meeting and criticising the controversial Central Bank Treasury bond issue. Some of the decisions taken by the former SEC chief, who was also a former Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism, and the SEC board during the earlier administration – including the provision of funds to Namal Rajapaksa’s Tharunyata Hetak programme are presently under investigation by the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID).
Earlier this year just before Dr. Godahewa resigned he told a newspaper that he was a non-political appointee. “There is no reason for the capital market regulator to hand over his resignation after an election. We do not engage in politics,” he was quoted as saying in the report.