A resolution is said to be presented to the Cabinet at the Cabinet meeting today (10) against Janaka Ratnayake, the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), urging the government to take legal action against him for the severe inconveniences occurred due to his statements lacking credibility.
The resolution is believed will be tabled by Ministers Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando.
The statements made by Ratnayake, especially on matters pertaining to the lives of the people such as fuel and electricity, may bring the Government of Sri Lanka into disrepute, thereby awakening the possibility of provoking unrest among the public and even obstructing international trade pacts, the Ministers pointed out.
The two Ministers argued that Ratnayake, who has no qualification to hold a chairmanship at a public institution, merely got his job at the PUCSL because he was involved in providing former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rohitha Rajapaksa, the youngest son of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, premises at a House Complex in Torrington to operate offices.
Ratnayake is also said to have been accused on multiple occasions of;
- Selling a building he owns in Kirulapone to the National Savings Bank and not paying taxes to the Inland Revenue Department;
- Obtaining money and leasing facilities from the branches of the collapsed Ceylinco Group during his tenure as the Chairman of Merchant Bank, and giving them to Senkadagala Finance Institution (which has also been probed by the Criminal Investigation Department); and
- Forcible acquisition of Ceylinco Housing Company owned by The Finance Company.
MIAP