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BOI directors in ‘great resignation’

03 Dec 2021

  • Directors are Dr. Harsha Cabral, Dr. Harsha Subasinghe, Dr. Sanjay Kulatunga
  • BOI says ‘urgently’ required transformation ‘strongly’ resisted
The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) stated yesterday (2) that the efforts of its leadership to achieve an “urgently required transformation” was “strongly and continuously” resisted by isolated factions, a few hours after three prominent members of the BOI Board of Directors tendered their resignation. The three members were Dr. Harsha Cabral PC, Dr. Sanjay Kulatunga, and Dr. Harsha Subasinghe, according to reliable sources. The Morning Business attempted to contact these members to confirm their resignation and the reasons for it. However, while one of their mobiles was switched off, the other two did not answer our calls. Dr. Cabral is said to be a top lawyer in the country and is a President’s Counsel in Sri Lanka with 31 years of experience in the fields of company law, intellectual property law, commercial law, securities laws, international trade law, and commercial arbitration. Dr. Kulatunga is the Director of Lynear Wealth Management and a CFA Charterholder, tech entrepreneur, and investor, while Dr. Subasinghe is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CodeGen Group of Companies. In a statement issued in the evening, the BOI confirmed the resignation of “prominent members” of its Board without naming them, and stated that unfortunately, the efforts of the leadership to achieve a much-needed transformation was “strongly and continuously” resisted by isolated factions both within and outside the organisation, who have put their self-interest over the public. “Such factions either failed or refused to comprehend the competitive realities of the international promotion landscape, in which Sri Lanka needs to compete much more effectively, if it is to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) at the scale the country needs,” the statement added. The statement further noted that in order to attract investments into the country, the Cabinet and the BOI leadership team recognised that many transformations were required internally to enable the BOI to compete against over 1,000 international promotion agencies active globally. They also recognised that this task could not be achieved in silos, and that collaborative efforts through a public-private partnership (PPP) model was essential. “This included the infusion of specialist skills through the acquisition of new talent for selected positions and also the obtaining of specialist professional services to attract and create new investment portfolios to stimulate the country’s trajectory towards a knowledge driven economy,” noted the statement. However, according to the BOI, the progressive agenda of the leadership has come into question in public fora, also implying mismanagement based on events that occurred during 2017 and 2019, a period prior to the time of the current leadership. “The many distortions and misconceptions publicised about the BOI, as a result of this confusion, has affected the reputation of the Board internationally, as well as the reputations of its key personnel,” the statement further explained. Despite these developments, the leadership of the BOI stated that it remains confident about the significant potential their programme of reforms can provide to support Sri Lanka’s economic progress in future, if it is continued to its natural culmination. Meanwhile, over 850 people in BOI out of 1,200 employees have signed a petition against the Chairman and by next Monday (6), it is expected to go beyond 1,000, according to reliable sources.


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