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Telecom, Mobitel heads roll ahead of Hutch deal
View(s):Heads rolled from the Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel Boards this week amidst reports that the management was clearing the decks for a massive corporate deal in the offing. Thusitha Haloluwa was removed from the Mobitel board while Krishantha Cooray and Firo Farook were sacked from the SLT board. All three had opposed proposals to increase the salary of Chairman P.G. Kumarasinghe and directors by three times the present scale. They had also objected to the continued presence of Mobitel Chief Executive Officer Ranjith Rubasinghe on the grounds that he was being investigated for financial abuse.
Mr. Haloluwa has been replaced by Heshana de Silva, a businessman who was an agent in the controversial Norochchalai power project while W.K.H. Wegapitiya and Rohan de Silva take the vacant slots at SLT. Mr. Wegapitiya is also a member of the Mobitel board which, ironically, resolved on October 9 to remove him. The minutes of that meeting are yet to be released.
In the pipeline are negotiations for Mobitel to purchase Hutch Telecom, a move strenuously resisted by the dismissed board members who claimed that the price tag was highly inflated. “They wanted to bring in others because they will go along with these moves,” said a source, requesting anonymity. “The Hutch deal is happening. They want to buy Hutch for a big amount.”
Mr. Wegapitiya, however, claimed he knew nothing. “I am in Bangladesh for the past one week,” he said yesterday, when contacted. “I have no access to Facebook or anything. They are blocked here.” After being given a brief summary, he said, “I am not a rogue. I have never cheated or robbed anyone’s money. I will not advocate that kind of thing.” He said he could not comment further.Hutch Telecom has been up for sale for several years. Its worth is said to be around US$ 78 million, the price offered for it last year by Dialog Axiata. But there are fears that Mobitel may offer as much as US$ 130 million for the company.