I had the fortune or misfortune of
meeting DM when he was an AGM in some section, when I went to investigate the
possibility of obtaining some finance, or bridging finance in case we were
short of funds, and could use client’s share portfolios as collateral, and I
was not impressed at all by this affable old soul, and was shocked to learn
when he was made the GM of this large bank a few years later. So I guess it was
about 6 years since I met him.
In all the news items, they note that he
is a highly qualified banker! I guess that may be paper qualifications, and I
don’t know how good he was. In any case just being informed that he has been
removed, I would like to know the actual reasons, as they were not specific.
Apparently the Board of the BOC had NOT
been informed or had not approved the establishment of the Seychelles branch,
and therefore he is getting the flack thrown at him for this and no doubt
knowing him he WOULD NOT have acted on his own accord to do so, but would have
taken orders by superiors aka Rajapakse cronies to take this action.
He is the fall guy, if this was his main
sin. However investigations are continuing to see if he has received any backhanders
for granting huge overdraft facilities to the likes of the Perpetual Group to
do bond trading, as the collateral they were able to offer would a enable them
to carry huge overdraft for this type of transaction.
No doubt in time we may know the truth,
or at least what he is accused of, and what evidence there is to corroborate
those accusations.
I presume that as it is a state Bank the
Finance Minister has the authority to suspend his services, presumably at full
pay, until investigations are complete. I hope this is a warning to the juniors
in the Bank who also took the same line, of using their power to earn a buck or
too illegally on the side, due to the massive kickbacks that are offered for
such people, who are dazzled at the thought of making the big time, when they
deal in billions in lines of credit everyday.
So now what next for DM, and who will be
his stand in heir apparent. I hope it is NOT a case of the finance Minister
putting a crony of his there, and worse put a staffer below whose true colors have
not been firmly established, whether he is a MR loyalist or neutral operator.
It has come to our attention that
hovering in the higher echelons of the Bank are a bunch of MR operators bent on
wrecking the chances of the bank, to put the blame on the current govt. and I
so that is another point that must be considered. It is quite unprecedented to
remove the GM of a Bank who has been a lifer in the bank as his credibility in
now in ruin and he is tainted with
colors unimaginable.
So DM for your sake I hope you can prove
that it was not you who made all these bad judgments, but you were forced to
make these against you will, as it was Namal Baby who was really running the
show at BOC insisting that his unqualified cronies be put into jobs at the
lower end of the scale, and requesting NO DEMANDING that his friends and aides,
get loan facilities, even without the necessary collateral. Let all other Bankers
be on notice!
No comments:
Post a Comment