Lankaputhra CEO’s FR petition deferred till 11 August

Thursday, 28 July 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Charumini de Silva

The Supreme Court yesterday listed to be mentioned on 11 August the Fundamental Rights petition filed by former Lankaputhra Development Bank General Manager and Chief Executive Lasantha Amarasekera challenging his removal on 28 June.

Following the removal from his position at the bank, Amarasekera filed an FR petition with the Supreme Court, stating that his fundamental rights were violated by the management of the Lankaputhra Development Bank.

The respondents of the petition are Lankaputhra Development Bank Chairman, Sri Lanka Monetary Board, Treasury Secretary, Public Enterprise Development Ministry Secretary, Head of the Bank Supervision Department of the Central Bank and two Board of Directors of Treasury representatives.

Amarasekera earlier said although the letter of termination stated that he was removed from the post due to his inefficiency, he categorically denied all charges and highlighted that it was mainly due to the mismatch of opinions between him and the Chairman as well as for not supporting his alleged malpractices.

In a previous statement justifying the dismissal, Lankaputhra Development Bank Chairman Lasantha Goonewardena said it was a collective decision by the Board of Directors of the bank including the two Treasury representatives considering the irregularities which had taken place during the General Manager’s tenure.

However, the Chairman was himself dismissed by the Bank Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) for failing to meet stipulations in the Banking Act but the letter was recalled by previous Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.