Sajin Vaas Gunewardena
Sajin Vaas Gunewardena is a Sri Lankan MP.[1]
Mihin Lanka
US Ambassador Robert Blake criticised Gunewardena's role in the Mihin Lanka airline in May 2008:
- A major reason for Mihin Lanka's dismal performance is that the company is run by Rajapaksa family members and friends with no experience in the aviation industry. The airline was conceived by Sajin Vaas GUNAWARDENA, a Presidential aide and family friend with a
track record of involvement in shady procurement deals. He is the company's CEO but has no aviation experience; he is paid Rs 450,000 ($4,200) monthly -- quadruple the typical salary for a public enterprise CEO. The board of directors includes the President's brother, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa; the President's trusted secretary, Lalith Weeratunga; and Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetilake. Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, also close to the president's family and involved in various Rajapaksa-driven state ventures, was initially on the board but has since been placed as chairman of the Sri Lankan Airlines board.[2]
Much of the company's finance was came from the state-owned Lankaputra Bank, which was chaired until April 2008 by Gunewardena's father.[2]
Werritty Affair
According to the Guardian, when Adam Werritty visited Sri Lanka in December 2010, "A key interlocutor was the president's foreign affairs fixer, a controversial former businessman called Sachin de Wass Gunawardene."[3] According to the Independent, Werritty told Gunewardena, the "parliamentary monitor for external affairs", that Liam Fox would be unable to make his scheduled visit.[4]
Affiliations
- Abeydeera de Vass Gunawardena - Father
- Manoj Gunewardena - brother
External Resources
- Udeshi Amarasinghe, Sajin De Vass Gunawardena: The Rebel With A Cause, Business Today, June 2011.
Notes
- ↑ SAJIN DE VASS GUNAWARDENA, M.P.,, Parliament of Sri Lanka, accessed 8 October 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robert Blake, SRI LANKA: MIHIN LANKA LOSES MONEY, SUSPENDS OPERATIONS, US Embassy Colombo, 15 May 2008, archived at CableSearch.org
- ↑ Jason Burke, Adam Werritty and Liam Fox's Sri Lankan connections, The Guardian, 13 October 2011.
- ↑ Kim Sengupta, Oliver EWright, I know it looks bad, admits Liam Fox as career hangs in the balance, Independent, 10 october 2011.
