The main committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on Thursday by a narrow 1-vote margin decided that John Keells Holdings (JKH) hadn’t violated the CCC Code of Ethics.
This came after the CCC’s Standing Committee was unable to decide on the findings of a Panel of Inquiry into the ethics issue and then put forward the matter to the main committee for a vote, according to sources close to the committee. Members declined to comment on Thursday’s proceedings. The Chamber hiararchy also refused to comment saying it is an internal matter.
The matter of whether JKH violated the Code of Ethics arose after the Supreme Court in mid-2008 cancelled the privatization of Lanka Marine Services (LMS), a former state company, on the grounds of serious irregularities in the transaction. LMS, a fully-owned subsidiary of JKH, was ordered to pay all taxes from the date of privatization.
Subsequently some concerned members of the chamber petitioned the CCC for an inquiry on whether JKH violated chamber ethics through its action which the Supreme Court has been critical of.
The sources said a Panel of Inquiry made up of R.L. Juriansz, S.S. Wijeratne and Suresh Shah looked into the matter and concluded that the code had been violated by the member firm. When the findings came before the Standing Committee which has the past chairman, present chairman and vice chairman as members, two members agreed with the findings while one disagreed.
With no unanimity on the issue, the matter then was put to the house of 30 members which saw 15 members in favour of the panel’s findings and the other 15 opposed, ending in a tie. It was then left to CCC Chairman Jayampathi Bandaranayake to cast the deciding vote which he did against the panel’s findings, thereby clearing JKH of any violation of the code. Mr Bandaranayake has been accused of conflict of interest in adjudicating on the matter as he is a director on the boards of Ceylon Tobacco Co (where JKH Chairman Susantha Ratnayake is a member) and Union Assurance which is majority-owned by JKH. He has repeatedly said there is no conflict and noted he was acting under legal advice.
Some senior members, among them past chairman of the chamber, were not in favour over the procees and appealed for the panel’s findings to be accepted, which was not accepted by the CCC chairman. |
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