SLT, Upali Newspapers become joint business under Welgama!

 

Wednesday, 11 June 2014 

Nimal Welgama is the chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel. According to reports, he is using resources at these two institutions for activities of Upali Newspapers Ltd. He is being aided in this wrongdoing by Mobitel CEO Kapila Chandrasena, CFO Nishantha Weerakoon and senior administrative officer Namal Ratnayake.

Two Mobitel-owned Montero jeeps, one bearing the number KE 6827 and silver in colour, and the other a black one bearing the number KK 0071 had been used for a considerable period by two top officials of Upali Newspapers. Mobitel is providing fuel and paying the maintenance costs for the two Monteros. It is Mobitel which provides vehicles and fuel free to top officials recruited to Upali Newspapers. This should be investigated and a sworn affidavit obtained from the relevant officials, as CEO Chandrasena, CFO Weerakoon and SAO Ratnayake all are to be blamed for this fraud. Both Welgama and Chandrasena have been committing such wrongdoing, but the chiefs of the ‘Subha Anagathayak’ are not taking any action against them, according to SLT and Mobitel employees.

These employees point out that the duo is using CFO Weerakoon and SAO Ratnayake after understanding their weak points and keeping with them the material evidence against the two. For instance, CFO Weerakoon had tried to sexually abuse one Sarayanya, a girl employed at Mobitel, and she has lodged a complaint against him. Instead of taking action against him, Welgama and Chandrasena had transferred victim of the incident to the engineering division.

It is no secret that this year, Upali Newspapers did not print diaries, and it was the diaries printed by Mobitel that had been distributed to all employees of Upali Newspapers. Welgama and Chandrasena had been aided in that by one Nalin Perera, of Mobitel, who is a habitual user of filthy language and one who serves his father’s packaging business more than Mobitel. Everybody knows about that, but Welgama and Chadrasena do not take any action against Nalin Perera, as they fear him, according to SLT and Mobitel employees.

As we exposed previously, Welgama and Chandrasena had carried out the requirements through Shamindra Rajapaksa for the the shady deal between Lyca and Mobitel. Await full details of that deal…

Diplomatic service in further disorder due to Anushi Shivaraja’s posting!

Tuesday, 10 June 2014 

Sri Lanka is on course for yet another diplomatic crisis owing to the appointment, at the request of minister Arumugam Thondaman, of Anushi Shivaraja, deputy chairperson of the Ceylon Workers Congress and former education minister of Central Province, as the deputy high commissioner at the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai, South India.

Anushi is the daughter of Annamalai, the financial secretary of the CWC during the period Saumiamoorthy Thondaman was its leader. She is married to Ponnaiah Sivaraja, the private secretary to Senthil Thondaman, who is hoping to become next leader of the party.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram and the CWC have been at odds for a long period of time due to the party’s having supported Karunanidhi, her political opponent, since the time Saumiamoorthy Thondaman was its leader.

It was on the advice of Jayalalitha that Arumugam Thondaman and a popular South Indian actress were arrested from Saveri Woodland Hotel in Chennai in 1996. Later, Arumugam Thondaman was freed following diplomatic influence, but by then, the South Indian media had given wide publicity to the incident.

Jayalalitha knows that minister Thondaman still has close ties with members of the Karunanidhi family, and is going after them seeking revenge. In such a scenario, it was downright foolish to appoint a deputy chairperson of the CWC as the deputy high commissioner in Chennai, said the senior officer of the external affairs ministry who related this story to us. By making this appointment, what the external affairs ministry has done was to add fuel to the fire.