Good Governance at the Commercial Bank

It was encouraging to see that both the EPF and the Insurance Corporation, institutional shareholders of Commercial bank making attempts to vote against the incumbent Chairman at the recently concluded AGM of the bank. Dheerasinghe was an appointee to the Board of Commercial Bank by the then Governor of the Central Bank, a decision that went against all known corporate ethics and governance. The former Governor also appointed Ranee Jayamaha as the chairman of HNB. But she resigned from her post with the change of the government, for which we must commend her. However, Dheerasinghe continues to remain as chairman with the support of some shareholders as evident from the proceedings of the AGM. The Commercial Bank finally mustered enough courage to get rid of the former Director General of the Media Centre for National Security, a person who was found guilty by the Colombo High Court for allegedly stealing Rs. 90,000 worth of timber, as one of the bank’s directors last year. Therefore, I urge all shareholders of Commercial Bank to continue to fight for good governance at the bank by removing the relics of the past government so that the bank can once again run by men of competence and integrity. 

A concerned shareholder