{"id":246843,"date":"2026-04-11T03:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=246843"},"modified":"2026-04-20T04:08:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:38:34","slug":"ndb-directors-must-be-removed-three-member-interim-council-appointed-by-akd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ndb-directors-must-be-removed-three-member-interim-council-appointed-by-akd\/","title":{"rendered":"NDB Directors Must Be Removed &#038; Three Member \u2018Interim Council\u2019 Appointed By AKD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>By <a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Amrit+Muttukumaru\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> &#8211;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_142887\" style=\"width: 154px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-142887\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Amrit-Muttukumaru-144x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"150\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is a reflection of the rot in governance in this country that the NDB Bank PLC Director Board is still in office despite its shocking NEGLIGENCE to prevent the MASSIVE internal FRAUD estimated at a minimum of Rs. 13.2 Billion. Their removal is necessary for their shocking negligence and the potential to TAMPER with evidence to save their skins.<\/p>\n<p>Since the INTEGRITY of most regulatory agencies have been compromised in some shape or form over the years \u2013 SEC, CBSL, CA Sri Lanka and BASL, it is recommended that the proposed 3 member \u2018Interim Council\u2019 to replace the NDB Director Board although not ideal must be forthwith appointed by President <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Anura+Kumara+Dissanayake\">Anura Kumara Dissanayake<\/a><\/span> who is also Minister of Finance. It must subsequently receive CONFIRMATION from the Governing Council of the OPA within one week.<\/p>\n<p>The government through the EPF\/ETF\/SLIC\/BOC is the major shareholder of the publicly owned NDB Bank PLC with a 32 % shareholding.<\/p>\n<p>The Negligence of CBSL\u2019s Bank Supervision Department looms large. Governor Dr. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Nandalal+Weerasinghe\">Nandalal Weerasinghe<\/a><\/span> was a Deputy Governor under <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Arjuna+Mahendran\">Arjuna Mahendran<\/a><\/span> at the time of the scandalous <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Bond+Scam\">CBSL Bond Scam<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The scandal at publicly owned NDB Bank PLC has not publicly evinced any concern from SEC Chairman, Dr. Hareendra Dissabandara.<\/p>\n<p>All those having direct\/indirect OVERSIGHT on this scandal \u2013 NDB Director Board, CBSL Governor &#8211; Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and SEC Chairman &#8211; Dr. Hareendra Dissabandara are all appointees of the Ministry of Finance of which AKD is Minister. The mere SUSPENSION of some employees while the Director Board is in place is clearly untenable.<\/p>\n<p>In the context of the fraud being estimated at a minimum of Rs. 13.2 Billion, it is ABSURD for the country\u2019s Central Bank (CBSL) to repeat parrot like \u201cThe CBSL has also been informed that no customer accounts or deposits have been affected by this fraud.\u201d It is equally nonsensical for the country\u2019s only stand-alone business newspaper \u2018Daily FT\u2019 to REPEAT this without comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">NDB Board Directors<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NDB board directors include Sujeewa Mudalige &#8211; former Managing Partner of PwC \/ Past President of CA Sri Lanka, Hasitha Premaratne &#8211; Managing Director of Brandix Group, Shanil Fernando &#8211; founding member of Virtusa Corporation and Co-Founder of Sysco Labs, Bernard Sinniah &#8211; former Managing Director of Citibank and Kasturi Chellaraja &#8211; former Group CEO of Hemas Holdings PLC.<\/p>\n<p>How Directors such as the above could have MISSED this outrageous fraud is a mystery. It will be equally outrageous to even consider COLLUSION and blatant negligence on their part. It is useful to keep in mind that the massive internal fraud is estimated at a minimum of Rs. 13.2 Billion.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">NDB External Auditors &amp; AKD<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The external auditors of NDB Bank PLC is Ernst &amp; Young of which the Managing Partner is Duminda Hulangamuwa &#8211; Senior Economic Adviser to AKD. On this basis alone is not Hulangamuwa\u2019s position as adviser to AKD fraught with \u2018conflict of interest\u2019?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Conflict of Interest\u2019 seems par for the course for the President AKD led government as it has been for several other administrations.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from EY being the external auditors of NDB, does not anyone in this country realize that Hulangamuwa has the potential to pass on sensitive information to EY clients\/potential clients? Does not the fact that COMPETING audit firms do not have a problem with this expose the PATHETIC audit profession in Sri Lanka?<\/p>\n<p>Are not chartered accountants\/auditors the first and last line of defense against any form of financial corruption in the public\/private sectors?<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One area in which successive governments and oppositions in Sri Lanka have CONSENSUS is in giving a FREE PASS to the private sector which for the most part is the MOTHER of political corruption.<\/p>\n<p>The country looks forward to witness whether the HIGH PROFILE private sector NDB board directors concerned and external auditors EY will be held ACCOUNTABLE for their shocking NEGLIGENCE by parliamentary oversight committees &#8211; Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Committee on Public Finance (COPF) of which leading opposition member Dr. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Harsha+de+Silva\">Harsha de Silva<\/a><\/span> is Chairman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":246844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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