Sri Lanka business magnate Dhammika Perera leaves director boards; speculation rife

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka business tycoon Dhammika Perera on Friday (10) tendered his resignation from the boards of directors of several public limited companies of which he holds shares, a Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) filing showed.

Perera’s resignation comes amid mounting speculation that he is set to enter parliament replacing former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa in the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)’s national list.

The privately owned NewsFirst network reported quoting SLPP general secretary Sagara Kariyawasam that the businessman’s name has already been submitted to the Elections Commission for the SLPP national list.

As per the CSE filing, Perera has resigned from the boards of directors of Hayleys PLC (of which he directly and indirectly holds 51.01 percent of shares), Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, Hayleys Fabric PLC, Hayleys Leisure PLC, Haycarb PLC, and The Kingsbury PLC.

Asked about Perera’s speculated entry to parliament, ex-finance minister Basil Rajapaksa said at a press conference on Thursday (09) that he wasn’t aware of it and that it was a decision up to the party.

However, he did say later on that if Perera wishes to implement some of the plans he had proposed for the country, there is no reason he should not be given an opportunity to do so.

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