President Maithripala Sirisena has deliberately tried to conceal that his brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena wanted to triple the salaries he gets as Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and Mobitel.
President Sirisena
Although claiming that his brother draws the same salary as his predecessor, the President did not reveal that in fact, Kumarasinghe Sirisena has submitted Board Papers to both the SLT and Mobitel Boards, requesting that his salaries and those of the directors ‘in the range of around Three Times of what is paid presently’.
The Board Papers are dated March 30th, 2015,( see the documents below) just two months after Maithripala Sirisena appointed his brother Chairman in a move that contradicted his pledge to do away with nepotism.
The Chairman’s current salary at SLT is Rs 450,000 a month and at Mobitel Rs 400,000. SLT Board Directors get Rs 35,000 and month while Mobitel Board Directors get 30,000 a month.
The President, on his own initiative, brought up the issue in the Sirasa TV talk show ‘Wenasaka Arambuma’ (The Beginning of a Change) hosted by Upul Shantha Sannasgala on November 21st, 2015. Sannasgala asked the President “The usual monthly salary of the Telecom Chairman is 1 million rupees but it has been said that your brother draws 10 million rupees — is this true?’
President Sirisena said, ‘My brother draws the same salary that the previous Chairman Nimal Welgama got. He has not taken one more cent.’
This is a lie. Firstly, Welgama did not draw a salary. Secondly, Sirisena deliberately conceals his brother’s attempt to increase his salaries three-fold.
The President did not mention the fact that his brother had sought a salary increase that would have given him a monthly income of approximately 2.4 million rupees (from SLT and Mobitel). The President’s assertion gives the impression that his brother was not and is not interested in increasing it by even a cent.
The President, who has moved to change the composition of the Board, cannot be ignorant of his brother’s self-serving behavior in the Board. As such it is clear that Maithripala Sirisena was trying to deceive the public regarding his brother’s greed.
SLT Board paper – Proposal to revise remuneration for Borad members;
Mobitel Board paper – Proposed Restructuring of Remuneration for Borad members of Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd;
Related posts;
Exposé: President Sirisena In The Thick Of A Multi Billion Kickback Scandal
Jayasingha / November 26, 2015
The finance minister is right when he says SLT / Mobitel can afford to absorb the additional taxes instead of passing them on to the consumer when we see that these institutions can afford to pay their Chairman and Directors thumping salary increases.
I can just imagine how Arjuna and his brother are acting if Sira and his bro are exploiting their positions.
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Funlover / November 26, 2015
The people are still waiting to hear how Sirisena The Jackal stuffed Rs 90,000,000 into his bowels during the New York Visit. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch the jackal in spasms with diarrhea and all that shit money just gushing out….
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Agnos / November 27, 2015
I haven’t been following the Colombo business issues, so I will rely on readers for answers to my questions. Are SLT and Mobitel joint ventures between the GoSL and foreign investors? If someone claims he is working full-time for SLT as Chairman, how can he then have any time to do any work for Mobitel?
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shankar / November 27, 2015
I think he deserves that threefold increase because his moustache is better than prabhaharan’s and mahinda’s.
jungle man of north central has beaten jungle men of north and south.
jungle balls jungle balls jingle all the way.oh what fun it is to have so many jungle men today
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K.Anaga / November 27, 2015
If Their salary can be increased so much what about the poor TEA PLUCKERS. At least when you have your tea please think of their plight.Let them not be a forgotten bags of refuse TEA.
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Darlin Silva / November 27, 2015
Kumarasinghe Sirisena’s command of the English language as displayed by him in the Board paper at issue shows that he deserves more than 100% increase in his salary. Mahinda Rajapakse’s downfall was brought about by his siblings and off-springs. Maithripla Sirisena is also heading towards the same goal.
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Sinhala_Man / December 11, 2015
Isn’t it time we had some confirmation of impropriety and the correction thereof, or a refutation of these allegations; instead we have marches and concern with the little bits of corruption now creeping back in to place:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/tough-lady-should-look-at-media-corruption-as-well/
Yes, radio and T.V. programmes are degenerating in to long-drawn out promises of monetary reward if their audience rates them highly. But surely we have to start with transparency at the top. It’s because I still wait in hope of action on major issues that I bother to write.
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