Two trade unions of the Commercial Bank have jointly written to the Director of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s Bank Supervision Department to withdraw the government notice for Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe to resign and if not, the unions would resort to legal action, say reliable sources.

Following recent written instructions from the Finance Ministry to several, who had been appointed during the tenure of the former government to represent its share in private commercial banks, Dr. Rani Jayamaha resigned as Chairperson of Hatton National Bank and Sunil Wijesinha as Chairman of National Development Bank (NDB).

Though the new government had proposed the name of Attorney at Law Nissanka Nanayakkara as Chairman of the Commercial Bank, during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held yesterday (31 March) the bank’s shareholders had opposed the removal of the current Chairman and hence the new appointment had been delayed.

The shareholders point out that neither the Central Bank nor the government has any right to change any high posts in private commercial banks.

As revealed to www.adaderanabiz.lk two Commercial Bank trade unions have jointly written to the Director of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s Bank Supervision Department to withdraw the notice on Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe to resign and that if it is not done they would resort to legal action.

Neutral observers point out that T.M.R. Bangsa Jayah who is a relative of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has been appointed to a top post in Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and the Minister’s coordinating secretary Silhan Lazimo Rahaman as Non Executive/Independent Director of the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank Chairman Dharma Dheerasinghe