President directs his SLT Chairman-brother to punish corrupt officials

Amidst mounting pressure from Sri Lanka Telecom ( SLT) workers, President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered his brother P.G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena, Chairman SLT to take stern action against cor rupt of ficials and streamline operations.

Heeding trade union demands, he directed his brother to immediately stop heavy investments leading to financial instability of the institution and unproductive operations and halt the present restructuring process in the administrative structure.

This directive was issued by the president at a meeting he held with SLT top management and representatives of Telecommunication Engineers’ Union (TEU) of SLT, a key office bearer of the union told the Business Times.

In a letter to the president, the TEU has requested the president to direct the SLT chairman to cancel changes made to the SLT organisational structure since December 2017 and take action against corrupt officials.

They also demanded necessary action to release the report of a special three member committee headed by retired Court of Appeal judge, N. Sunil Rajapaksha to inquire into alleged malpractices and irregularities at the company since 2008.

This committee has probed contributory factors and responsibl e officers for any malpractice or irregularity or failure in project governance, failure in project governance and management from project planning since 2008 as well as from present out- sourcing and vendor financing models.

Another demand of the TEU was to appoint a suitably qualified and experience person to the post of SLT Group CEO. (BS)