{"id":200278,"date":"2019-04-01T15:15:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T09:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=200278"},"modified":"2019-04-05T22:53:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T17:23:06","slug":"an-open-letter-to-ranjit-wijewardene-downplaying-of-appointment-of-ranjan-hulugalle-as-lake-house-finance-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/an-open-letter-to-ranjit-wijewardene-downplaying-of-appointment-of-ranjan-hulugalle-as-lake-house-finance-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Downplaying Of Appointment Of Ranjan Hulugalle As Lake House Finance Director"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Ranjit Wijewardene<\/p>\n

Chairman,<\/p>\n

Wijeya Newspapers Limited<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Wijewardene,<\/p>\n

Downplaying of Appointment of Ranjan Hulugalle as Lake House Finance Director<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ranjit Wijewardene<\/p><\/div>\n

The imprudent appointment of Ranjan Hulugalle as Finance Director of state-controlled print media publishing company \u2018Lake House\u2019 by your son Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of Mass Media was severely criticized<\/strong> in Parliament last week by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He alleged that in the context of <\/em>Ranjan Hulugalle (i) being a former director of Perpetual Treasuries<\/em>\u00a0Limited (PTL) the Primary Dealer at the centre of the egregious Treasury Bond Scam (ii) his Passport being <\/em>\u201cimpounded by courts over the bond scam investigation\u201d he should never have been appointed to this position.\u00a0Dissanayake also alleged that <\/em>Hulugalle suppressing <\/strong>in his Bio Data the fact that he was a director of PTL raises questions on a possible hidden agenda<\/strong> leading to his appointment.<\/p>\n

The JVP leader also raised the issue of \u2018conflict of interest\u2019<\/strong> in your son\u2019s appointment as Minister of Mass Media since Wijeya Newspapers Limited\u00a0 owned by his family led by you which is the dominant print media entity in the country will have access to information from competing media entities which include state controlled \u2018Lake House\u2019.<\/p>\n

Your son\u2019s justification in Parliament for Hulugalle\u2019s appointment is both facile and laughable<\/strong>. It is also unbecoming<\/strong> of a person of his position. He inter alia stated that although he was aware<\/strong> that Hulugalle was a director of PTL<\/em>, he went ahead with the appointment as a mark of gratitude<\/strong> to H.A.J. Hulugalle (his grandfather) who was a close friend and colleague of Ruwan\u2019s grandfather D.R. Wijewardene during the early days of \u2018Lake House\u2019.<\/p>\n

Conflict of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason why I am writing to you on this issue is because due to an apparent \u2018conflict of interest\u2019<\/strong> your \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 has evidently \u2018downplayed\u2019<\/strong> the reporting of this ill advised appointment. For example, the \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 of 25 March has positioned its report of this appointment inconspicuously<\/strong> on Page 6<\/strong>. This is the same \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 that on 21 March 2019 gave Page 1 coverage<\/strong> to a story titled \u2018HE BIT AN SI TO GET AWAY BUT LEFT SANS HIS PANTS\u2019<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

This is not all. The report of the appointment of Hulugalle is mysteriously missing<\/strong> in the online edition of \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019. I brought this to the attention of your editor Kesara Abeywardena yesterday itself. Here again the <\/em>\u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 online edition is still carrying the (nationally crucial news item!) \u2018Deceased mother had partaken of fried fish on alms giving day<\/a>\u2019<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are the immediate Past Chairman of the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL). I dare say both the SLPI and PCCSL is dominated by your DOMINANT media company Wijeya Newspapers Limited of which you are Chairman. To top it all your son Ruwan Wijewardene is Minister of Mass Media in a government where his first cousin<\/strong> Ranil Wickremesinghe is Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

It is indeed strange there has been no outrage<\/strong> to your son\u2019s appointment as Minister of Mass Media from the COMPETITIVE media. Are they overawed<\/strong> by you and your dominant media company? Sri Lanka is indeed \u2018A land like no other\u2019!<\/p>\n

I know nothing will come of this letter and it will be business as usual<\/strong> similar to your directive in writing<\/strong> to \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 Editor, Kesara Abeywardene:<\/p>\n

1) Not to give me a \u2018Right of Reply\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0to a prominent Op-Ed article per se defamatory<\/strong> of me.<\/p>\n

2) \u201cSimply Stop Muttu After That\u201d <\/em>after which none of my articles are published in the \u2018Daily Mirror\u2019 and \u2018Daily FT\u2019.<\/p>\n

Please note articles are written by me pro bono <\/strong>in the public interest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Yours faithfully,<\/p>\n

Amrit Muttukumaru<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Public Interest Activist)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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