January 23, Colombo (LNW): The Colombo High Court on January 19 ordered that the declaration of the verdict on the lawsuit filed by Gihan Sajith Rajapaksha, one of the former directors of DSI Group, demanding an interim order barring him from being unlawfully dismissed from the positions of Managing Director and Director of several companies owned by the Group, be made on February 08, 2024.
This was when the case was taken up before High Court Judge Priyantha Fernando.
The Court also ordered that the petition be called in on February 02, 2024 for the statement of facts on behalf of the other directors of DSI Group, including Kasun Rajapaksha, Thusitha Rajapaksha, Bathiya Amarakoon, Nelani Rajapaksha, Anura De Silva, and Asanka Rajapaksha, who are cited as respondents to the petition.
Chandaka Jayasundara PC appearing for Sajith Rajapaksha argued that his client has been removed from the positions he had held uninformed, in clear violation of the Companies Act and in violation of fundamental justice.
The company navigated by Mr. Rajapaksha had archived over 60 per cent of net profit in comparison to the rest of the companies held by the Group, and the parties chairing other companies, the respondents, had acted in maliciousness to oust him in response to his brilliant performance, he told Court.
Jayasundara PC further informed Court that Kasun Rajapaksha, the current Managing Director of DSI Group, and Dilshan Rajapaksha had notoriously opened offshore shoe businesses and committed fraud, paving the way for money outflow, in violation of the parent group’s fiscal regulations. In the backdrop, the total loss incurred by the Group amounts to over Rs. 400 million, he emphasised.
Sajith Rajapaksha’s lawyers further elaborated that a staggering financial misappropriation of Rs. 104 million through Dubai-based Azamaq Novelties Trading LLC, of Rs. 120 million through Aussie-based Y Communications QLD PTY LTD, and of Rs. 70 million through UK-based Lakeland Footwear International Limited was committed by the respondents in the aforementioned manner.
Further, the respondents had invested in India via Samson Footwear Private Limited, incurring a loss, and over Rs. 1 billion of bonds had been retrieved from the parent group via Premier Synthetic Leather Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd, lawyers appearing for Mr. Rajapaksha added.
In the backdrop, the most profit-making business owned by the Ranatunga Rajapaksha family, in which Sajith Rajapaksha is a member, was subjugated to arbitrary acquisition, whilst ousting Sajith from his rightful positions, they asserted before Court.
The chain of events may drive DSI Group, which shelters tens of thousands of breadwinners, into a serious crisis in the near future, facts unveiled before Court demonstrated.
