Tussle for MD’s post at Sri Lanka Insurance
Musical chairs continued for the second week running at state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd’s (SLIC) where former Managing Director (MD) T. M. R. Bangsa Jayah is refusing to quit.Keith Bernard was appointed the new MD last week but is unable to function as Mr. Jayah, brother-in-law of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, continues to remain in the MD’s office.
The situation worsened on Tuesday when Mr. Jayah barged into a board meeting and got into a verbal confrontation with other directors with Mr. Bernard asking him to quit. The crisis erupted after the institution moved to the purview of Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim from the Finance Ministry. Meanwhile the Insurance Employees Union (IEU) has written to Minister Hashim, but hasn’t got a response as yet. IEU President E. W. U. R. Divakara told the Business Times that day to day work of the SLIC is at a standstill owing to the dispute.