BOC Boss says committed to good governance

Thursday, 9 April 2015 01:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

GM on leave until impartial probe is completed

Chairman Ronald C. Perera

Bank of Ceylon Chairman Ronald C. Perera PC yesterday reiterated the bank’s commitment to good governance and disclosed that General Manager D.M. Gunasekara was on leave until an impartial probe was completed. On Monday Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the BOC General Manager was suspended due to alleged misuse of power and corruption. Gunasekara was a senior and qualified banker and the removal saw financial circles raising concerns. However, Chairman Perera issued the following statement yesterday: “The Bank of Ceylon is a long, well-established and respected banking institution with a history of more than seven-and-a-half decades. BOC... “My Board of Directors and I are deeply committed to sustain and enhance this reputation. This presents us with a challenge, which was greatly heightened due to the adverse publicity and negative sentiments, expressed in the media recently. This situation does not augur well for the bank or the financial system as a whole considering the systemic importance of Bank of Ceylon to the country. “We believe that it is incumbent upon the Board to address this situation. In furtherance thereof, it has become necessary to determine the exposures to risk of several key functional areas of the bank as well as to conduct special purpose audits, via the deployment of internal and external auditors. “As such, we felt it was appropriate to place the General Manager, Mr. D.M. Gunasekara, on leave, until investigations are completed such that the conduct of investigations is independent and impartial. We will take all steps to complete these investigations and clear the issues, within a short period of time. “As the ‘Bankers to the Nation,’ we are not only serving our stakeholders to fulfil their financial needs but also committed to maintaining practices of good governance, at the highest levels. “We sincerely hope that our stakeholders will appreciate these measures of good governance.”