CPL Nearing Its End

By Nirmala Kannangara

Chilaw Plantations Limited (CPL) is on the verge of collapse due to its unscrupulous administration, its employees alleged. CPL, a profit making institution earlier, taken over by the Government from Wayamba Plantations in 2008, is now being ruined by its Executive Director for ulterior motives, the employees alleged.

Executive Director CPL, A.M. Chandrapala, a close ally of Coconut Development and Janatha Estates Development Minister Jagath Pushpakumara, is accused of taking over the control of its management unofficially thus disrupting its Chairman’s work.

As a result of ‘questionable’ administrative decisions taken by the management and alleged corruptions, the employees accuse that the company is incurring losses since this director took over the office a few years ago.

However Chandrapala refuted the allegations but declined to answer the questions this paper posed to him claiming he was busy. The Executive Director refused to make any comment claiming he was very busy despite repetitive requests for meeting him or talking to him over the phone to get his side of the story.

However, CPL employees on condition of anonymity said that the management was ‘ruining’ the institution. They say if the Government does not interfere with Chilaw Plantation affairs immediately, the closure of this institution in the near future is inevitable.

“We have been informing the ministry on these issues over the years but they are in deep slumber since the Executive Director is an ally of the politician. Coconut is a lucrative business but if this Executive Director does not provide the necessary facilities for the estate staff, provide manure for the plants and stop misusing the company resources for personal use, the company will never be able to gain profit. Kurunegala Plantations Limited which also engages in the coconut trade and which comes under the same ministry is gaining profits as it is well managed by its management. Unlike at CPL the authorities of Kurunegala Plantation Limited give priority to the coconut cultivation and the welfare of the staff,” sources alleged.

According to CPL employees, from the time it came under the new management, its objective is reportedly to reduce estate staff in order to ‘save’ money and show the ministry that it is a profit making company. But CPL keeps on recruiting excess staff to the higher posts which has become a burden to the institution. The sources further accused them of recruiting unqualified staff for higher posts without even interviewing qualified applicants.

“We have evidence to prove how they are recruiting unqualified staff and also promoting unqualified persons neglecting qualified employees,” sources added.

The Sunday Leader reliably understand that a letter of demand has been sent to the CPL Administration by some of the qualified employees whose applications for the Post of Assistant General Manager (Plantations) have been rejected and CPL was planning to fill the vacancies with two unqualified employees who are allegedly close allies of the Executive Director.

The letter of demand dated November 12, 2014 sent by Attorney-at-Law, Ishara Gunawardena to the CPL Management states that unless the qualified employees are called for an interview and the recruitment process is made transparent and selected only the candidates who have qualifications, legal action will be taken against the management. Reliable CPL sources said although these illegal interviews took place two weeks earlier against Chairman Dr Sunil Jayasekera’s consent, the letter of demand has compelled them to hold back the recruitments in fear of possible legal action.

“On what grounds can they bypass the rules and regulations and promote unqualified candidates who support his corrupt work? When there are strict regulations that rules and regulation of the Management Services Department have to be followed when recruiting employees and when deciding their salary scales, they ignore all rules as if CPL is a private property,” sources said.

Meanwhile, Secretary General Ceylon Planters’ Society, Russell Tennekoon said that although these issues have been informed to the Management Services Department of the Ministry of Finance and Planning and to the Secretary Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development Ministry, no action have been taken so far to ‘save’ the institution from a certain downfall.

“There are numerous misdeeds taking place at CPL. If the highest officials in the Government keep on ignoring them and have not taken any action to prevent the management under the Executive Director from ruining the institution further, we believe the Government, too, is supporting bribery and corruptions,” Tennekoon alleged.

In a letter dated April 3, 2014 to the Secretary Ministry of Finance and Planning, the Ceylon Planters’ Society has stated how the CPL has overlooked the Management Services Department circulars to recruit staff to the institution.

The letter states, “As a responsible trade union which represents the plantation executives in the country, we wish to highlight the irrational, illegal and wasteful decisions taken by the Management of Chilaw Plantations Limited. By such decisions, Chilaw Plantations make further top-heavy at its head office by illegal appointments which is not only irrational but also illegal.

“Kurunegala Plantations Limited which is also under the same ministry and having the same management is being well managed with a far lesser cadre which is more than evident that CPL is heading for a disaster. By amalgamating far-flung estates, the CPL reduced the number of superintendents to six from eight but the number of the head office cadre is being increased to the whims and fancies of some”.

Meanwhile CPL employees are waiting for the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption to start an investigation due to a complaint lodged by them against the management about misusing company resources for personal benefits. With a letter dated October 20, 2013 to the Chairman, Bribery and Corruption Commission, CPL employees had stated how Chilaw Plantation vehicles were misused by this director’s family.

According to the complaint, soon after this director took office, he has allegedly taken home a new Nissan double cab that was to be given for estate superintendents. The complaint further states how he fixed a canopy to this double cab the very next day to transport textile to his shop. However he had not allowed canopies to be fixed to the double cabs given to the estate superintendents.

It further states that this director obtained the CPL Benz van for his family and a company vehicle, a Toyota double cab, met with a major accident while one of his children was driving and the official BMW car met with another accident when his wife was allegedly at the wheel.

“Both these accidents is said to have happened within one week and CPL had to bear the repair cost that exceeded rupees eight lakhs to which the Executive Director is not worried about at all,” the bribery complaint states.

The complaint has accused him of obtaining commissions when the institution purchased vehicles.

“While he is reducing estate staff to save money and making superintendents to oversee more than one estate, more monies are lost in other ways,” sources alleged.

The sources also accused the management of installing a coconut oil processing plant at Palugaswewa spending millions which is an utter failure.

“They like to initiate projects spending millions of CPL funds without a proper plan. This oil processing plant too is such a failed project and over seven million rupees were spent to fix the machineries. The plan was to process 45,000 liters of coconut oil per month. Since there was no proper marketing plan, the processed oil could not be sold and the expiry date has now lapsed,” he said.

He further said that the transformation of CPL Chairman’s four-bed-room bungalow to a guest house also was a total flop.

“All the four rooms were air-conditioned and the bathroom fittings fixed in 2008 when the bungalow was renovated were removed and its accessories were fixed spending several lakhs. The company spent Rs 40,000 per month on its maintenance but in 2013 only four people had come to the guest house. For 2014, the company has allocated money for tractors, barbed wires, and weedicides but till end November, these machineries or other requirements have not been supplied which shows how poor these managerial skills are,” sources said.

He also said how the failure to fertilize the coconut trees in 2013 would affect the yield in two to three years’ time.

Although funds were allocated to fertilize the coconut plants, it never happened due to alleged unnecessary involvement by the Executive Director.

“Last year we got a lesser yield compared to previous years. It was 35% decline compared to 2012 yield and as the trees were not fertilized last year the crop will further decrease in the years to come,” he said.

He accused the CPL management of misleading the Auditor General’s Department by submitting false details to show that the company has gained huge profits during last year when the actual fact is that most of the figures in the audit report were not obtained accurately due to the inefficiency of the management. Most of the figures the Audit report shows are revenues earned by selling old vehicles and aged-old teak trees.

“They have calculated the money allocated for 2013 manure as a profit. Although selling teak trees and old vehicles is a profit it is not due to the efficiency of anyone,” he added.

 I am busy, call on Monday - Executive Director

All attempts to get a comment from the Executive Director A.M. Chandrapala for the allegations levelled against him failed. Although he first asked what the allegations are later he refused the claims and said he cannot make any comment as he was busy. When asked whether to talk to him late in the evening after office hours or even whether the reporter can come and meet him on Friday at his office, Chandrapala said that he has to go to the Parliament on Friday and that he has no time to meet or talk over the phone for a comment.

“These are all baseless allegations. I am a straightforward officer and that is why they are accusing me. I only take my salary and nothing else from CPL,” he said.

However, Chandrapala was careful enough not to talk about the misuse of vehicles and unlawful recruitments and wanted the reporter to come and see him on Monday.

When repeatedly asked him to spare five minutes and give his side of the story as the paper will be carrying an article on CPL, Chandrapala still declined to give any comment.