SriLankan Airlines chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe will continue in his post while Dhammika Perera was also expected to be re-appointed as Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman amidst intensive lobbying for this position from two other contenders - Asia Capital CEO Asanga Seneviratne and Ceylon Tobacco Co Chairman Jayampathy Bandaranaike, informed sources said yesterday.
The latter, a former Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chairman, is already on the current BOI board.
The Presidential Secretariat prepared a tentative list which is expected to be approved by President Mahinda Rajapaksa tomorrow, a source at the President’s Office said. “The delay has been due to intensive lobbying by various people though a list has been finalized,” he said.
Circulars went out, through Ministry Secretaries, in line with protocol, for all chairpersons and directors of boards of Government agencies to resign from their positions.
Among those who have already stepped down is the Sri Lanka Tourist Promotion Bureau Chairman Eranga Basnayake.SLT Chairperson Leisha de Silva Chandrasena is also on her way out with Upali Newspapers Executive Director Nimal Welgama tipped to take over. But Mr Welgama, asked on Friday, said he had not received any appointment. Ms Chandrasena has been criticized by the Finance Ministry over mounting losses at SLT which the board has covered up by focusing on returns by the Group which includes Mobitel, the sources said. Aitken Spence Chairman Harry Jayawardene, who had fallen out of favour with the Rajapaksa administration, was being considered for the chairman’s post at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation subject to approval by the President.
Gamini Senerath, currently Additional Secretary to the President, is being appointed as Chairman of the National Savings Bank in addition to the more powerful position of Chief of Staff at the Presidential Secretariat. Gamini Wickremesinghe is being retaned as Chairman at the Bank of Ceylon while the People’s Bank chair position is unclear.
Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman T.M. Herat is to be reappointed and is on a committee appointed by Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka to probe losses at the CEB over the past 5 years and submit a report by May 15, the sources said. |
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