Sri Lanka's SEC chairman resigns over investor pressure

COLOMBO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman resigned here on Friday, an official said, creating more challenge for regulators of the Colombo bourse.

Ending a week of speculation over his resignation, SEC Chairman Thilak Karunaratne had sent his quit notice to the Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundara, an official at the SEC who did not wish to be named told Xinhua.

Karunaratne had stated that the reason for his resignation is a powerful group of investors banding together to stop investigations into market manipulations.

He had termed them as a "mafia" and insisted that he was under pressure to reduce regulations in the market.

Karunaratne took up the post earlier this year after the former chairman quit in December 2011 after claiming it was a measure to "uphold her principles".

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest corporate umbrella body, on Wednesday noted the second resignation could result in adverse impact to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) which has dropped 20 percent so far this year.

Following the announcement of Karunaratne's resignation on Tuesday good governance activists including former Chairman of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chandra Jayaratne have called for the government to intervene and protect the SEC.

However, so far there has been no response either from President Mahinda Rajapaksa or the Finance Ministry. Enditem

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