“I am honest and clean,” says Sri Lankan businessman Dilith Jayaweera

Dilith Jayaweera, a powerful Sri Lankan businessman with close connections to the government, on Tuesday said he was honest and that neither he nor his group of companies has ever got a contract from the government through political influence.

“We have not got a single contract from the government through influence. Anything that we got was through a normal process,” he told a stormy media briefing at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, called to proclaim his innocence over allegations that he was part of a ‘mafia’ that led to the resignations of two chairpersons of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

Reporters pitched into him after he said that sections of the media had created an anti-government perception. Mr Jayaweera responded to all the questions including allegations that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had intervened on his behalf to stop an investigation by the SEC.

He initially denied that such a call was made but after persistent questions from the media, he said he believed that no such call was made. “Do you have evidence to show that such a call was not made or, did Mr Rajapaksa tell you that no such call was made to SEC Chairperson Thilak Karunaratne?” one reporter asked.

He then admitted that a call was made in his and Triad Joint Managing Director Varuni Amunugama’s presence to the SEC chairperson. “We were discussing various issues and I mentioned how I would like to meet Dr Karunaratne. Immediately Mr Rajapaksa said ‘I know him well’ and called the SEC Chairman and requested that he (Karunaratne) meet us,” he said. – Ends -

http://sundaytimes.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23315:i-am-honest-and-clean-says-sri-lankan-businessman-dilith-jayaweera&catid=77:news&Itemid=563

බලාගෙන ගියාම මු හිතං ඉන්නේ ලකාවේ invest කරන අපි කොන්ඩේ බැඳපු චීන්නු'ය කියලා !!!

අනේ දිලිත් ලොක්කෝ... දැන්වත් කට වහගෙන... අර list කරපු කොම්පැනි ටිකයි... REEF එකයි CLND එකයි develop කරලා තමන්ගේ තියෙනවයි කියන Marketing දැනුම පාවිච්චි කරලා එව්වා ටික profitable කරන්න try කලොත් නරකද?

It would have been more noble for this gentlemen to keep quiet or not make more controversial statements during this ( SEC ) crisis.

slstock wrote:It would have been more noble for this gentlemen to keep quiet or not make more controversial statements during this ( SEC ) crisis.

???

Redbulls wrote:

slstock wrote:It would have been more noble for this gentlemen to keep quiet or not make more controversial statements during this ( SEC ) crisis.

???

Just giving courtesy to another.

AS FAR AS I KNOW HE DID NOT DO ANY PUMP AND DUMP DEALS. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. HE BOUGHT CLND, REEF , PAP AND STILL HOLDING ONTO THEM!!!!

slstock wrote:

Redbulls wrote:

slstock wrote:It would have been more noble for this gentlemen to keep quiet or not make more controversial statements during this ( SEC ) crisis.

???

Just giving courtesy to another.

Understood.
Thanks.

afruk wrote:AS FAR AS I KNOW HE DID NOT DO ANY PUMP AND DUMP DEALS. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. HE BOUGHT CLND, REEF , PAP AND STILL HOLDING ONTO THEM!!!!

I am not going to comment on the above as I do not know the insider details. However we all know PAP,REEF, CLND all increased by 100-400% during certain periods. They were also not fundamental shares. Now who did the pumping and the dumping is over to authorities ( if they ever disclose).

Again there was a PMB deal that was very controversial where Mr J was involved. Price went from Rs 23 to Rs 40 within 2 days.

"Speaking of his last purchase of a stake in People’s Merchant Bank (PMB) Mr. Jayaweera explained, “It’s with a good intention and after advice from reputed stockbrokers that we bought into PMB, as we thought of a possible synergy with a group company. After the purchase, (on the same day) we contacted the rest of PMB shareholders who we thought would sell their stakes to us. Some who immediately agreed to sell, withdrew. In this situation, we lost the prospect of possible synergies and it didn’t fit the original reason for us wanting to buy PMB. So you are left with no choice, but to sell it in the market.” He added that his company has never got into a stock with the intention of artificially creating a story around it and selling."

More info below
http://sundaytimes.lk/110828/BusinessTimes/bt05.html

Just providing freely available info to the public. People can decide.

WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:AS FAR AS I KNOW HE DID NOT DO ANY PUMP AND DUMP DEALS. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. HE BOUGHT CLND, REEF , PAP AND STILL HOLDING ONTO THEM!!!!

I am not going to comment on the above as I do not know the insider details. However we all know PAP,REEF, CLND all increased by 100-400% during certain periods. They were also not fundamental shares. Now who did the pumping and the dumping is over to authorities ( if they ever disclose).

Again there was a PMB deal that was very controversial where Mr J was involved. Price went from Rs 23 to Rs 40 within 2 days.

"Speaking of his last purchase of a stake in People’s Merchant Bank (PMB) Mr. Jayaweera explained, “It’s with a good intention and after advice from reputed stockbrokers that we bought into PMB, as we thought of a possible synergy with a group company. After the purchase, (on the same day) we contacted the rest of PMB shareholders who we thought would sell their stakes to us. Some who immediately agreed to sell, withdrew. In this situation, we lost the prospect of possible synergies and it didn’t fit the original reason for us wanting to buy PMB. So you are left with no choice, but to sell it in the market.” He added that his company has never got into a stock with the intention of artificially creating a story around it and selling."

More info below
http://sundaytimes.lk/110828/BusinessTimes/bt05.html

Just providing freely available info to the public. People can decide.

"Kithulata giyapu minihatath kiyanna kathawak thibunalu"

I remember nice little story when I read these things,

රා කට්ටක් බොන්න හිතුනු බේබද්දෙක් දවසක් අල්ලපු වත්තේ කිතුලකට නැග්ගේලු.
ඔන්න බොලේ අයිතිකාරයා එනව දැකපු බේබද්දා කලබල වී කිතුලෙන් බිමට බහින්න ගත්තේලු.
"ඒ බොල උම්බ කාගෙන් අහල ද මගේ කිතුලට නැග්ගේ ? "
"අනේ රාලහාමි මං මේ මගේ වස්සට කන්න තණකොල ටිකක් කපා ගන්න කියල යි කිතුලට නැග්ගේ."
"කෝ ඉතින් උම්බට තණකොල හම්බ වුනාද ? "
"නැහැ නේ රාලහාමි...ඒක නිසා මං දැන් මේ බිමට බහිනවා."

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Some of our forum members write like that, may be they do not know why it is not good?

Don't type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Typing messages in all capital letters is the Internet equivalent of shouting. You can use all capital letters to stress an important word or phrase, but do not capitalize everything. It may seem like a small detail, but typing in all capital letters may be considered rude.
http://www.dso.iastate.edu/asc/academic/elearner/nettiquette.html

Redbulls wrote:

Don't type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
Typing messages in all capital letters is the Internet equivalent of shouting. You can use all capital letters to stress an important word or phrase, but do not capitalize everything. It may seem like a small detail, but typing in all capital letters may be considered rude.
http://www.dso.iastate.edu/asc/academic/elearner/nettiquette.html

I think that is what he is doing.

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Thanks for both advices. I will go through company reports. But my argument is still valid. If DJ is still holding onto shares he bought how can we say he has dumped

afruk wrote:

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Thanks for both advices. I will go through company reports. But my argument is still valid. If DJ is still holding onto shares he bought how can we say he has dumped

Afruk,

I do not want to get into this argument. All I can say is there are ways if one want to. Now whether Mr DJ did it or not is up to SEC/ authorities to uncover. PMB deal is clear dumping according to the article as he himself said he sold in the market.

afruk wrote:

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Thanks for both advices. I will go through company reports. But my argument is still valid. If DJ is still holding onto shares he bought how can we say he has dumped

May be he did not get proper price to dump.......just pumped and stucked

Whitebull wrote:

afruk wrote:

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Thanks for both advices. I will go through company reports. But my argument is still valid. If DJ is still holding onto shares he bought how can we say he has dumped

May be he did not get proper price to dump.......just pumped and stucked

You hit the nail.
Thanks.

The question is, will COPE ever take any action against the alleged HNWIs?

I highly doubt... it would be like what happened in D** Silva shooting case...

Suba Anagathayak!!!

Cheers!

ආයෝජකයින් හා තැරැව්කාර කණ්ඩායමක පීඩනය හමුවේ තමා විනිමය හා සුරැකුම් පත් කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති ධූරයෙන් ඉවත්වූයේ යැයි තිලක් කරුණාරත්න මහතා කර තිබෙන ප්රකාශයට ආයෝජකයෙකු වූ දිලිත් ජයවීර මහතා අද පිළිතුරු ලබා දුන්නේය.

අද කොළඹදී පැවැත්වූ මාධ්ය හමුවකදී ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළේ එවැනි මාෆියාවක් ක්රියාත්මක වන්නේ නම් පරීක්ෂණ පවත්වා ඔවුන්ට දැඩි දඬුවම් ලබාදිය යුතු බවත් තිලක් කරුණාරත්න මහතා කළ යුතුව තිබුණේ තනතුරෙන් ඉවත්වීම වෙනුවට අඛණ්ඩව තනතුරේ රැඳී සිටිමින් අදාළ පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු කරගෙන ගොස් වැරදිකරුවන්ට දඬුවම් කිරීම බවයි.

වැරදිකරුවන්ට දඬුවම් කිරීම වෙනුවට ආයෝජකයින් 17 දෙනෙකුට එරෙහිව පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සිදුකරනවා වැනි ප්රකාශ මාධ්ය හමුවේ කිරීම තුළින් කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළ කෙරෙහි තිබෙන විශ්වාසය බිඳීයන බවත් එය වෙළඳ පොළේ මුදල් ආයෝජනය කර තිබෙන ආයෝජකයින්ට ගැටලු මතුකරන්නක් බවත් හෙතෙම කීය.

තිලක් කරුණාරත්න මහතා ඉවත්වීම පිටුපස දිලිත් ජයවීර මහතා සිටීදැයි මෙහිදී නැගුණු පැනයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් හෙතෙම පැවසුවේ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළට සම්බන්ධ පාර්ශව සමග ජනාධිපතිවරයා පැවැත්වූ සාකච්ඡාවකදී තමන් කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළ පිළිබඳව දරන මතය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉතා කෙටි දේශනයක් පැවැත්වූ බවත් එම අවස්ථාවේ තිලක් කරුණාරත්න මහතාද එහි සිටි බවයි.

තමාගේ දේශනයෙන් ජනමාධ්ය තුළින් කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළ පිළිබඳව මතුකර තිබෙන සෘණාත්මක ආකල්ප මෙන්ම නියාමකයා සිදුකරන නියාමන කටයුතු පිළිබඳව අදහස් දැක්වූ බව ජයවීර මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

මෙහිදී, මාධ්යවේදීන් වරින් වර ඔහුට බාධා කරමින් ප්රශ්න නැගූ අතර හෙතෙම පැවසුවේ තමා කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළේ සියළු ආයෝජන කර තිබෙන්නේ තනිවම නොව දිවස සමාගම හරහා බවයි.

මේ වනවිට, අදාළ සමාගම හරහා රුපියල් බිලියන 1.2 ක පමණ මුදල් කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළේ ආයෝජනය කර තිබෙන බව හෙතෙම කීය.

කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළේ මාෆියාවක් ක්රියාත්මක වන්නේ යැයි කියමින් තමාගේ නම එයට ගාව තිබීම පිළිබඳව කණගාටු වන බවත් තමා නියෝජනය කරන්නේ සාධාරණව මුදල් ඉපයූ ආයෝජන කණ්ඩායම බවත් හෙතෙම වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.

කලම්බෝ ලෑන්ඩ් සමාගමේ පුළුල් කිරීමේ කටයුතු සඳහා තමා පසුගියදා ඉන්දියාවේ ආයෝජකයෙකු සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට සූදානම් වූ බවත් එහිදී ඔවුන් තමාගේ නම ගූගල් වෙබ් අඩවියට ගොස් සෙවීමේදී කොටස් වෙළඳ පොළ මාෆියා යන අංශය යටතේ පැමිණීම නිසා අදාළ සාකච්ඡා අවලංගු වූ බවත් ජයවීර මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

මේ නිසා, තමා ප්රාර්ථනා කරන්නේ මෙවැනි මාෆියාවක් තිබේ නම් එයට සෘජුවම එරෙහි වී දඬුවම් ලබාදෙන සුරැකුම් පත් හා විනිමය කොමිෂන් සභාවේ ප්රධානියෙකු මිස පරීක්ෂණ සිදුවන්නේ යැයි සඳහන් කරමින් ආයෝජකයින් තුළ යම් අවිනිශ්චිත අදහසක් ඇති කරන ප්රධානියෙකු නොවන බව හෙතෙම කීය.

Redbulls wrote:

Whitebull wrote:

afruk wrote:

slstock wrote:

afruk wrote:WHEN EVER HIS NAME IS INVOLVED PEOPLE START BUYING. WHAT I AM ASKING IS WHETHER HE IS HOLDING THEM STILL OR HE HAS DUMPED.

Kindly do not type everything in capital letters.

You can check the those company reports and see for yourself.

Thanks for both advices. I will go through company reports. But my argument is still valid. If DJ is still holding onto shares he bought how can we say he has dumped

May be he did not get proper price to dump.......just pumped and stucked

You hit the nail.
Thanks.

I donot think he is stuck in CLND and REFF. According to company reports they are doing well. point is not that,if he is still holding for what ever reason, we cant say he has dumped.

Upset media unfairly identified him with stock exchange mafia

* Thilak should have stayed and fought mafia

*Says he had nothing to do with resignation of SEC Chairman

* Never used personal relationships to exert pressure on SEC

* Defence Secretary only fixed appointment with SEC Chairman

* SEC & economy drove down bourse

* Anti-government labelling wrong


Controversial critic of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dilith Jayaweera said yesterday that the regulator needed to take timely and effective measures against market offenders, sending those guilty to jail if and when proved guilty.

"We need a regulator that acts and not talk. We need a regulator with a backbone. If there are 17 cases being investigated, conclude the investigations and send them to jail, don’t just talk about it," Jayaweera told journalists yesterday, adding that he was upset the media had unfairly identified him with the stock exchange mafia, as a result an Indian investor had pulled out from a recent meeting after doing a check on Jayaweera and his companies on google!

He was grilled by the media for almost three hours after he invited them for a briefing at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo, in a bid to clear his name and safeguard the reputations of his companies, while at the same time explain his stance in the sordid affair that had compromised the entire system.

He said he was not a high net worth investor although prices were brought through his company Divasa Equity with bank facilities. "I never personally traded in the stock exchange."

The Treasury and Central Bank have both said the recent slump in share prices was a market correction. But Jayaweera contended that this was an unusual correction.

"The SEC does not need more teeth. The existing laws are ample enough for it to clamp down on market offences. What is lacking is efficient and timely implementation of the law," he said.

SEC Chairman Thilak Karunaratne last week resigned from the post sighting pressures brought upon by an influential group of investors and their crony brokers, with the government not doing enough to support the SEC which was in the process of completing 17 investigations into market offences.

Less than a year ago, Ms. Indrani Sugathadasa also resigned from the same post on a matter of principle for the same reason after the then Director General of the SEC Malik Cader was removed from the SEC after implementing a slew of policy measures to cool off an overheated stock exchange and commencing investigations into market offences.

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises Chairman DEW Gunesekera has said there was reason to believe a mafia was operating in the stock exchange and the SEC Act must be amended as a matter of priority to give the regulator more teeth to deal with market offenders.

Jayaweera had given a presentation at a recent meeting of capital market stakeholders with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, blaming the SEC for the bourse’s slump. He said the SEC and the media had behaved in an anti-government manner in that terms such as pumping-and-dumping, insider dealing and overvalued stocks were used too loosely and out of context. However, when asked whether people in a democracy did not have the right to dissent, he said no! Labelling those with another point of view as being anti-government was wrong he said.

Jayaweera said the regulator’s ad-hoc policy measures had caused the market to fall, but this was not the only reason. Macroeconomic conditions such as high interest rates and prevailing sentiments in the economy also contributed to the downfall of the bourse, he said. When asked whether he was being anti-government for making such a statement, he said, "Absolutely Not!"

"Both Ms. Sugathadasa and Thilak Karunaratne are capable people of integrity and they should not have resigned. I was very sad to see them resign. I did not have anything to do with Thilak’s resignation," Jayaweera said.

The press repeatedly pointed out that an influential group seemed to have managed to impede the SEC’s efforts in concluding the investigations. But Jayaweera believed there was no mafia in the stock exchange influential enough to move the President, because the President "cannot be influenced in such a manner."

"If there is, then we are all in trouble, the whole country is in trouble. Thilak Karunaratne should name them," he charged. "Thilak had the duty to stay on and fight!"

As to policy directives such as the credit restrictions and price bands, Jayaweera said they were detrimental to the market ( See front page story in yesterday’s issue) but conceded it was a personal opinion and that contrary views should be respected.

Jayaweera himself has been served four or five show-cause letters regarding transactions dating back to two years ago by the SEC and he claimed that he did not use personal connections to influence the SEC.

"I only asked Defence Secretary Deleted Rajapaksa if he knew Thilak Karunaratne and they happened to be close friends. I asked him to make an appointment for me which he did then and there. I visited Thilak and we had cordial discussions. The investigations never came up. In fact we had a lot of hope in Thilak, someone I greatly respect. I thought he would be around for five years or so and take the stock exchange to the next level," Jayaweera said.

Jayaweera praised Ms. Sugathadasa and Karunaratne several times, and at one point charged that the officials in the SEC had misled the two chairpersons.

When pressed to comment on external pressures leading to their resignations, Jayaweera finally conceded, "There is a problem in the system and not individuals, saying they are weak or anti-government or a mafia is not going to help. All stake holders should come together to fix the problem."
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=59740

His innocence can be definitively proven only if COPE takes action against those 17 investors and the public gets to know who they are. I doubt those 17 names will ever be published, but everybody then would think DJ is in that list.

Btw, I wonder why it was necessary for the defense secretary to arrange a meeting between the two? isn't he totally unrelated to this issue?

Cheers!

afruk wrote:AS FAR AS I KNOW HE DID NOT DO ANY PUMP AND DUMP DEALS. CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. HE BOUGHT CLND, REEF , PAP AND STILL HOLDING ONTO THEM!!!!

These are not the only stock he would have bought , these are his long term positions,

as for deleted only fixed an appointment? I'm not buying it. a person of Dilith's standing could have easily have call the SEC and got an appointment.

anubis wrote:His innocence can be definitively proven only if COPE takes action against those 17 investors and the public gets to know who they are. I doubt those 17 names will ever be published, but everybody then would think DJ is in that list.

Btw, I wonder why it was necessary for the defense secretary to arrange a meeting between the two? isn't he totally unrelated to this issue?

Cheers!

Does COPE has a mandate to investigate these investors.. I think they have mandate to investigate public enterprises and semi-gov organization....

I have to re think abut Mr Jayaweera after reading above statement

Any way selection of wrong people merely because of personal connection
is the main reason for problems facing to day

I loss Rs 1.5 million because of this situation.