RPC Chairman summoned by SEC

The drama at Richard Pieris & Co (RPC) is continuing with the latest development being its Chairman Dr. Sena Yaddehige summoned by the capital market regulator over alleged securities fraud, a source close to the group said.

But the latter is abroad and the company has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he is in the UK and indisposed. In response the SEC has asked for his medical records to verify this claim, the source said.

Three of its independent directors resigned from the group recently while Paul Ratnayake, a working director, was called by the SEC in relation to these matters which pertain to its subsidiary, Kegalle Plantations.

The source told the Business Times that Mr. Ratnayake has already given a statement to the SEC.

Earlier in 2009, the company got a tough warning pertaining to insider trading by the SEC also with regard to Kegalle Plantations.

Three independent NonExecutive Directors - Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala, Prof. Kapila Goonasekera and Dr. Anura Ekanayake have resigned during the past month. All three served on the Audit Committee, Related Party Transactions Review Committee and Nominations Committee while two of them served on the Remuneration Committee.

The company, in which Dr. Yaddehige’s son Shaminda is Executive Director/ Chief Operating Officer, recently announced the appointment of career banker Prasanna Fernando as a Non-Executive Director.

Company employees say that Dr. Yaddehige hasn’t been in the country for some time and his last board meeting was carried out on skype.