It was revealed before the Presidential Commission on SriLankan Airlines (SLA), that the SLA director board had instructed to provide USD 53-million worth shares that belonged to Emirates Airlines, to several state banks and funds, contrary to the Cabinet decision to provide them solely to the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) in 2010.
According to the evidence provided by SriLankan Airlines Secretary Dalreen Thirukumar, the shares were given to the BOC, People’s Bank, National Savings Bank (NSB) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). She said the director board decided to provide USD 12-million worth shares to the BOC, USD 4 million to the People's Bank, USD 4 million to NSB, and USD 1 million to the EPF.
According to the witness, Nishantha Wickremesinghe was the SLA Chairman at the time the decision was taken. She said she was appointed secretary in 2013.
The Commission instructed her to submit the relevant documents related to the decision, next Monday (6). Additional Solicitor-General Neil Unambuwa led the evidence. The evidence revealed that the Government Chief Valuer had valued 51.01 percent of shares owned by SriLankan Airlines worth USD 440 million, while no valuation had been done on Emirates Airlines' shares.
The Emirates Airlines chairman had informed then Treasury Secretary P. B. Jayasundara on February 23, 2010, that Emirates would sell the shares in SriLankan Airlines. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the then Finance Minister.