Bank of Ceylon General Manager suspended

Thu, 2015-04-09 09:06 — editor

Colombo, 09 April, (Asiantribune.com):

Bank of Ceylon Chairman Ronald C. Perera PC, justifies reasons behind placing bank’s General Manager, Mr. D M Gunasekera on suspension (on compulsory leave) , until investigations are completed such that the conduct of investigations is independent and impartial.D.M.Gunasekera - Bank of Ceylon General Manager on suspension

In a statement released to the press, Bank of Ceylon Chairman pointed out that “we felt it was appropriate to place the General Manager, Mr. D M Gunasekara, on leave, until investigations are completed such that the conduct of investigations is independent and impartial.”

He further added that "we will take all steps to complete these investigations and clear the issues, within a short period of time. "

In the meantime it was earlier revealed according to reports that, Bank of Ceylon (BoC) General Manager D.M.Gunasekera has been suspended with immediate effect.

FINANCE Minister Ravi Karunanayke said that the suspension has been carried out on many grounds including misuse of power and corruptions.

It is learnt that in 2011, Bank of Ceylon opened up a branch in Seychelles-a country considered as one of the fastest growing tax havens in the world-during the time of the previous regime, without the permission of the Bank of Ceylon.

However, no reason was given behind allowing the general manager of the bank to go on leave in the statement released by the Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon.

Mr. Ronald C Perera, President’s Counsel, was appointed as Chairman, Bank of Ceylon by Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of FINANCE. He assumed office on Wednesday 28th January 2015.

Given below the full text of the press statement released by the Bank of Ceylon regarding its General Manager placed on leave, in fact it amounted to suspension:

"The Bank of Ceylon is a long, well established and respected banking institution with a history of more than seven and a half decades. My Board of Directors and I are deeply committed to sustain and enhance this reputation. This presents us with a challenge, which was greatly heightened due to the adverse publicity and negative sentiments, expressed in the media recently. This situation does not augur well for the Bank or the financial system as a whole considering the systemic importance of Bank of Ceylon to the country.

We believe that it is incumbent upon the Board to address this situation. In furtherance thereof, it has become necessary to determine the exposures to risk of several key functional areas of the Bank as well as to conduct special purpose audits, via the deployment of internal and external auditors.

As such, we felt it was appropriate to place the General Manager, Mr. D M Gunasekara, on leave, until investigations are completed such that the conduct of investigations is independent and impartial. We will take all steps to complete these investigations and clear the issues, within a short period of time.

As the Bankers to the nation, we are not only serving our stakeholders to fulfill their financial needs but also committed to maintaining practices of good governance, at the highest levels.

We sincerely hope that our stakeholders will appreciate these measures of good governance."

- Asian Tribune -