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Work at SLT comes to a standstill following clash between Chairman and Chief Executive |
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2009-08-13 | 12.30 AM |
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A trade union leader attached to Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) told Lanka News Web that the conflict between SLT Chairman Leisha de Silva and Chief Executive Greg Young on purchasing equipment and services for the Company has resulted in a standstill in work at SLT.
While Young and representatives of Maxis Malaysia have proposed that equipment and services for SLT should be taken from the Malaysian telecommunications company, de Silva and several other board members have said that since such brands are not well known in the field, SLT |
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should purchase its requirements form reputed institutions.
Young was appointed as Chief Executive of SLT by Maxis Malaysia that owns 49% of the local telecommunications operator. He receives a permanent monthly salary of Rs. 80 lakhs for holding the post. However, due to facilities like vehicles, house and others offered to him, the SLT spends over Rs. 10 million per month to maintain Young as the Chief Executive.
Young it is learnt does not possess any knowledge about the telecommunications field. His only occupation at SLT is to ensure that purchases to the Company are made from subsidiary companies of Maxis Malaysia.
However, the heavy involvement of Maxis Malaysia, which was once in the centre of controversy due to its alleged connection in funding the LTTE, in the country’s telecommunications sector is cause for concern.
The owner of Maxis Malaysia is millionaire Ananda Krishnan, who is Malaysian citizen of Tamil origin.
Maxis Malaysia was brought into Sri Lanka’s telecommunication industry by then SLT board member S.N. Kumar. Kumar is a close friend of Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena and the owner of the clothes store Beverly Street down Duplication Road.
Kumar was supported by two of the President’s close friends, Priyantha Kariyapperuma and Roshan Kariyappewruma. Ananda Krishnan had agreed to pay a sum of Rs. 1,000 million to the Kariyapperuma brothers if they made arrangements for Maxis Malaysia to purchase shares at SLT, which were at the time held by NTT.
When discussions commenced on giving SLT shares to Maxis Malaysia, the JVP and trade unions attached to the Company launched a massive protest campaign against the deal. The Divaina newspaper at the time took stance against the deal.
Former JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa at the time made a special statement in parliament outlining the connection between Maxis Malaysia and the LTTE and emphasized the danger in giving SLT shares to the Malaysian company. The JVP also launched an island wide poster campaign against the Maxis deal.
While the Kariyapperuma brothers, who were the local agents for Maxis Malaysia in Sri Lanka, could not resolve the unrest against the deal, one Sampath Kapurua Bandara together with Manoj Abeydheera from the Divaina newspaper intervened to resolve the issue. They finally became the tow local co-representatives of Maxis Malaysia.
Abeydheera’s close connections with the former Chief Justice helped him secure the position of local representative of Maxis Malaysia.
Abeydheera managed to intervene and resolve the issues raised by Weerawansa and the trade unions. Maxis Malaysia then decided to replace the Kariyapperuma brothers, who at the time were Maxis Malaysia’s local agents, with Abeydheera and Kapurubandara.
Although the Kariyapperume brothers were forced to move out of the Maxis-SLT deal, Ananda Krishnan had to agree to the President to pay a sum of Rs. 500 million to the Kariyapperuma brothers for their services rendered.
The trade union representative said that de Silva, Young and Abeydheera have now become a problem to the SLT. He further observed that it was humorous to see Abeydheera, who wrote articles as a patriot, being involved with Ananda Krishnan, a man alleged to have links to the LTTE.
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