Drama at Richard Pieris; director makes statement to SEC
The Richard Pieris Group has been engulfed in high drama over the past few weeks with three of its four independent directors resigning amidst a director being summoned by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged securities fraud, an informed source said. He said the company had got a tough warning in 2009 pertaining to insider trading by the SEC but declined to say what this current issue is about. Other sources said the issues relate to Kegalle Plantations. On Wednesday, long standing independent director Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala resigned while Prof. Kapila Goonasekera quit last week and Dr. Anura Ekanayake in July.
All three served on the Audit Committee, Related Party Transactions Review Committee and Nominations Committee while two of them served on the Remuneration Committee. Insiders at the company say that the independent directors have raised many issues but were unable to exert pressure on the board to sort these matters. Its chairman/managing director Dr Sena Yaddehige hasn’t been in the country for some time and his last board meeting was conducted through Skype. Dr. Yaddehige was unavailable for comment on Friday as he was abroad. His son – Shaminda is Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer while H.J. De Costa is the only remaining Independent Non-Executive Director.