John Keells Holdings (JKH) and its chairman Susantha Ratnayake are yet to respond to a July 22 letter sent by JKH shareholder S.C. Amarasinghe from Ekala asking that shareholders be briefed on the case pertaining to the LMSL privatisation that was overturned by the Supreme Court.

“I am yet to receive a response,” Mr Amarasinghe said. However this could not be independently checked with the company as JKH officials were unavailable for comment. Meanwhile in a letter to the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Mr Amarasinghe said, “I was intrigued by your comments to The Sunday Times FT that an action against a member is an internal matter, conceded, perhaps it is, but dissemination of relevant information to the public is a must and I as an informed member of the public and a stakeholder of John Keells demand this as this company has failed to take its stakeholders into its confidence.”

Last week CCC Chairman Jayampathy Bandaranayake said - in an email communication to this newspaper –that the chamber is studying the Supreme Court decision. He had said action, if any, against members is an internal matter and will be in accordance with the governing codes of conduct applicable to the membership. “It will not be a matter for dissemination to the public,” Mr Bandaranayake had said.

Mr Amarasinghe said in the letter that in November 2007 the chamber presented the ‘Best Corporate Citizen” award to the JKH while the latter was awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on a matter of great public importance.

“Today everyone knows the outcome and it is quite clear that this member company has violated the code of ethics and code of good governance and should no longer be recognized as a good citizen, let alone the best,” the letter says.