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BOI Chair helping friends with high-salary posts?

12 Aug 2021

 
  • New Board member salaries six-fold of current members
  • Requests 10-fold increase in his own salary
  • Renovates WTC floor at Rs. 13 m
  • Payroll cost to rise by Rs. 350 m per annum
  • Employee outcry over new recruitments
By Madhusha Thavapalakumar and Imsha Iqbal   The chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI) Sanjaya Mohottala is allegedly set to recruit 29 new executive directors, senior deputy directors, and deputy director general for a higher remuneration than that of those who are with the Board at the moment, reliable sources revealed to The Morning Business.  Escalating the allegation further, it has also been pointed out by reliable sources that a floor at the World Trade Center is being renovated, by spending a large sum of money, to accommodate these new recruitments.  Mohottala is also reported to have received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers for these new recruitments, who are tipped to be close-knits and friends. Sources are alleging that the Chairperson of the BOI is somewhat closely related to Rajapaksa family, which has reportedly helped him obtain approval for these new recruitments from the Ministry of Finance, without a second question.  Sources questioned why the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted through the Ministry of Finance, on the grounds that the Minister in Charge of the BOI is the President.   The Morning Business attempted several times to contact Mohottala, through calls and texts, to get his comment on this matter. However, all our attempts proved to be futile. Sources indicate that according to the paper submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers, the reason behind these new recruitments was to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country by way of competing with regional peers such as Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India. Therefore, Mohottala had pointed out the necessity of the Board being composed of “efficient and skilled” staff when providing services to the investors. The structural changes are expected to attract FDIs of around $ 5 billion by 2023.    However, according to reliable sources, it has been observed that the BOI is already equipped with sufficient such professionals, while 650 members – out of 1,250 – are qualified graduates and postgraduates in relevant fields of expertise.  Reportedly, the new recruitments are set to receive a monthly remuneration package which is six times higher than that of the average BOI staff, amidst the prevailing financial situation in the backdrop of a pandemic. The remuneration cost, accordingly, would escalate over Rs. 350 million per annum due to these staff additions. It was also said that last year’s request for a salary raise was turned down by the BOI itself, pointing out the “financial difficulties” caused by the pandemic. Taking that into account, employees are reportedly dissatisfied with the recent developments. At the same time, reliable sources added that a renovation has been proposed for the 27th floor of the BOI, which is estimated to cost Rs. 13.2 million approximately, inclusive of 10% contingency as well as 8% Value Added Tax (VAT). Further, this aforementioned refurbishment is to be implemented to provide the going-to-be recruited BOI officers with partitions, flooring, furniture etc.  By the month of July, two officials have been recruited as Deputy Director Generals (DDG) with a monthly remuneration package ranging between Rs. 600,000 – Rs. 800,000, the sources said.  Reliable sources said that these recruitments, in fact, do not align with both BOI policies or government policies, unless the Port City Project comes under the BOI management, even though it has also been approved through a Cabinet paper submitted by Mohottala.  Moreover, it is also alleged that Mohottala, as the Chairman of the BOI, is entitled for a monthly remuneration of Rs. 100,000/- as per the Government’s directives. However, he has allegedly requested the President for an increment of Rs. 1 million.  The BOI has also reportedly lowered the qualifications and required years of experience as per the paper advertisement and the Cabinet paper while the general rule is to recruit someone from the internal cadre, sources claimed. Thus, the sources noted that these actions would subsequently lead the Board in diluting their organisational structure and they foresee negative and destructive consequences due to its impact.  Sanjaya Mohottala, who was serving as the Director General of BOI, was promoted to Chairman last December. He replaced former John Keells Holdings (JKH) Chairman and CEO Susantha Ratnayake, who resigned. Mohottala was appointed as DG of BOI in early March 2020, and in addition to this role he is also a Board Member of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board and SriLankan Airlines, as well as a member of the Presidential Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation. Prior to joining BOI, Mohottala was Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group and worked as a Brand Manager at Unilever Sri Lanka and as an Oracle Product Specialist at MillenniumIT. The BOI, initially referred to as the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC), was established in order to foster and generate economic development to the Republic of Sri Lanka. It also contributes in encouraging and foreign investments in the context of the country as well as diversifying the foreign exchange while increasing the export earnings.  


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