Chairman of the Cey-Nor Foundation Limited – Dr. Dulan Hettiarachchi has tendered his resignation to the President, citing that he is unable to function in his role due to death threats from State Minister of Fisheries – Piyal Nishantha.

Noting that the state minister had sought bribes, Dr. Hettiarachchi has said that he has been threatened when they were not granted.

The letter adds that he took over the chairman post of Cey-Nor Foundation Limited when the institution was in a state of continuous losses. Regardless, the state minister had appointed 20 new employees to the institution and pressured him to pay their salaries from the ministry coffers, he has added.

Dr. Hettiarachchi has further mentioned that the State Minister has been asking food parcels worth Rs. 10,000 to distribute among voters of his constituency and in some instances has threatened him to provide money to purchase these parcels.

Despite the financial situation of the Cey-Nor Foundation at the beginning of his tenure, Dr. Hettiarachchi says that he had worked to pay off the institution’s bank overdraft of over Rs. 50 million and make the institution a profitable one. He also adds that the company obtained Rs. 08 million after wrapping up a legal case concerning the Cey-Nor restaurant.

He also says that the institution, which initially only focused on fiberglass vessel manufacturing, has diversified since, and had also managed to obtain Indian funding to further broaden operations.

However, State Minister Piyal Nishantha has refuted all claims made by Dr. Hettiarachchi and said that had no issues with the latter.