Preethi Jayawardena is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) and a Fellow of the Certified Professional Managers of Sri Lanka. He was a member of the Council of the ICASL from 2004 to 2006.
Jayawardena is also the managing director/CEO of Chemanex Plc, as well as a non-executive director of CIC PLC and many other public and private limited companies in Sri Lanka. Elsewhere, he is a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He is also the senior vice chairman of the National Chamber of Industries of Sri Lanka, and a member of the Executive Council of the Institute of Directors of Sri Lanka.
Jayawardena had been with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) for more than 14 years, where he had held various senior positions - including as head of treasury, specialising in treasury operations and managing a loan portfolio of approximately USD1.8 billion. He had also been involved in providing support vis-à-vis the rescheduling of ZCCM’s debts under the terms of the "Paris Club", "London Club", Japanese agencies and other leading lending organisations in the US and Europe.
Recently (2011-2012) after a Rs.1.6 billion fresh capital infusion by a secondary public offer MBSL managed The Finance Co. PLC (TFC), Central Bank appointed a new board led by Preethi Jayawardena while he had expressed that he took up the challenge to turnaround the troubled TFC because he likes Treasury Management. TFC has over Rs.20 billion in deposits. However at the time of appointment to TFC board Preethi Jayawardena went onto say that he is competent in treasury management, as he worked in one of the largest Zambian copper mines, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM) in various senior positions including the Head of Treasury for a 14 year period from 1979 to 1992.
“I was managing the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited’s Treasury which had a value of US $ two billion.” Preethi Jayawardena reported to have said.
Although Jayawardena had said that he was competent in managing treasury worth US $ 2 billion (Rs.220 billion) according international reports outline that the mid-1990s also saw major changes in the mining sector in Zambia with the privatisation process of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) started in 1994, with ZCCM finally being sold in 2000 after many delays in the process.
Accordingly ‘The political economy of taxation and state resilience in Zambia since 1990’ compiled by Jonathan DiJohn of Crisis States Research Centre outlines that Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) was losing $1 million per day, contributing 10% of GDP to Zambia’s quasi-fiscal deficit (World Bank Report 2001: xiii) prior to privatization.
“As part of the privatisation process, the government instituted a very low tax regime for mining firms” the report highlights.
Courtesy: http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/03/20/former-mbsl-chairman-janaka-ratnayake-reappointed-chairman-city-housing-and-real-est