Manilal under pressure to quit Holcim

Under-fire Holcim Sri Lanka Chairman Manilal Fernando is under pressure to resign from the company over alleged irregular happenings after a probe by the Swiss-based parent company, company sources said.

“He hasn’t come to work for several weeks and doesn’t operate (in the office) as the chairman anymore. The parent company is discussing a compensation/resignation package with Mr. Fernando,” said one company source. Calls to Mr. Fernando’s mobile for comment, re- mained unanswered.

A powerful personality in business and sports, Mr. Fernando, an attorney at law, has been chairman of Holcim and its subsidiary companies since 1996.

A week ago, FIFA – the controlling body for soccer worldwide – suspended Mr. Fernando, who is an executive board member, over an ongoing ethics investigation.

The suspension for a 90day period follows a probe into the alleged misuse of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) accounts.

Mr. Fernando is a close ally of Bin Hammam, the for- mer AFC head and disgraced FIFA presidential candidate. The latter resigned from all football-related positions after being found guilty of repeated ethics violations while AFC president, news reports said.

The source said however the FIFA developments may be unconnected to Mr Fernando’s planned resignation as the Holcim developments emerged in the last week of February.

The powerful lawyer is chairman of several other companies and director in many others including SriLankan Airlines.

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