The recent disclosure of exorbitant salaries and perks enjoyed by two Chief Executive Officers of loss-making state run carrier, SriLankan Airlines and the procedural lapses in their appointments sparked widespread debate on public forums last week.
While a petition from the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) revealed that the monthly basic salary of the SriLankan CEO, Suren Ratwatte was a whopping Rs. 3.27 million excluding other benefits, documents presented by SriLankan Airlines Company Secretary, Dalrene Thirukumar at the Presidential Commission on Monday noted that Kapila Chandrasena, the former Chief Executive was paid Rs. 1.5 million as monthly salary, excluding other benefits during his first three years.
This was in addition to him earning a monthly salary of Rs. 500,000 as CEO of Mobitel and a monthly salary of Rs 250,000 as a consultant to Mobitel during the period 2009-2013. Providing evidence on allowances and salaries of executive officials of the national carrier, Thirukumar said, although the Finance Ministry has stressed that SriLankan Airlines should be under a full time director, Chandrasena, who also functioned as a director, received salaries and privileges from both state institutions by concealing his employment at Mobitel.
Meanwhile, Thirukumar also testified that SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive, Suren Ratwatte was appointed to his position in October 2015 without a board decision while Chandrasena, who was a board member of SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka until 2011, was appointed the CEO at an emergency board meeting on May3, 2011.
“Even though there was no advertisement for the position of CEO, Chandrasena was awarded the position,” Thirukumar pointed out adding that he had not applied for the position, as documents pertaining to his qualifications for the post was not found. However, she noted that the required parameters were followed when appointing Manoj Gunawardena as CEO in 2008. Ratwatte, the brother of Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, Charitha Ratwatte, who announced his resignation last month, will relinquish his duties as CEO with effect from Tuesday, July,31, 2018.