Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara on the Run: CID questioning and Arrest Imminent

(Lanka-e-News19.Aug.2013,11.30PM) The latest reports from Sri Lankas professional and academic community on the continuing saga of Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara is that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is closing in on him. They are about to question him before framing charges against him for criminal misappropriation of monies totaling over Rs. 50 million in connection with the government owned PIMs (Postgraduate Institute of Management) International Centre which he operated in Dubai in the UAE for a period of nearly three years from 2007 to 2009. An independent fact finding inquiry completed by the reputed Audit firm Ernst and Young has found that while functioning as the Managing Director and Chief Operations Officer of PIMs International Centre at Dubai, Professor Nanayakkara had over a period of several years from 2007 to 2009 misappropriated and embezzled over Rs. 50 million in Sri Lankan rupees when converted from Dirhams of UAE money. He had systematically done this by diverting payments made by Sri Lankan applicants for the MBA courses which he offered at the Dubai Centre. Each student was charged about 300,000 Dirhams the equivalent of About Rs. 900,000 per student. From the Ernst & Young Inquiry Report it appears that Professor Nanayakkara had withdrawn the equivalent of nearly Rs. 20 million by using his ATM card when

Government Regulations strictly forbid ATN withdrawal of public funds. The balance of about Rs, 30 million had been misappropriated by him by withdrawing the funds, from time to time, from the bank accounts of the Centre and diverting such funds to accounts in Dubai which he had opened in his personal name. Thereafter, such monies had been transferred by him to personal accounts of his in Canada. The Canadian connection arose because since the late 1990s, Professor Nanayakkara had also been working as an academic in Canada. He had earlier invested in a house and his family wife, two adult sons and his daughter live in Canada. The funds that Professor Nanayakkara had wrongfully taken and siphoned off to Canadian bank accounts have apparently been used by him to purchase another residence as an investment in Canada. This is revealed in the CID inquiry now underway. The Ernst & Young Inquiry report also reveals that Professor Nanayakkara had forged payment receipts for substantial sums of money showing that well-known named individuals had received money for services rendered at the Dubai International Center such as the delivery of lectures to students. Many of these individuals have given evidence and given sworn affidavits that the signature on the Receipts are not theirs. In other words their signatures have been forged and the relevant documents show by the handwriting that the forgery has been done by Professor Nanayakkara. These documents and evidence and is also before the CID. The pending CID inquiry on Professor Nanayakkara has been authorized by the Attorney Generals Department because PIMs International Centre at Dubai was operated as a State institution of the government of Sri Lanka. Also, this large fraud at the Dubai Centre was highlighted by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Chairman of COPE Senior Minister Mr. Dew Gunasekera has strongly advised the University Grants Commission and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (under whom Professor Nanayakkara functioned) to give all materials and documents and assistance to the CID in the conduct of its investigations, COPE had also advised that this fraud be reported to the Bribery Commission not as a matter of bribery but as a matter of corruption in a public sector institution. The COPE had also noted that during his tenure as the Managing Director of PIMs Dubai International Centre Professor Nanayakkara had not filled up and submitted his Declaration of Assets and Liabilities though obliged to do so. Coming on the heels of the CID Inquiry into Professor Nanayakkara for misappropriation of money, there is also a court case which has now found itself in the Provincial High Court of Appeal of Colombo, The court case arose in the following way.

Because of the Inquiry by the Audit firm, Ernst & Young which found that Professor Nanayakkara had misappropriated public funds, the University of Sri Jayewardenapura had interdicted him from the post of Professor of Management . Professor Nanayakkara had then challenged the interdiction by filling a case in the District Court of Colombo. This litigation is numbered as District Court of Colombo case No DSP/248/2011. In that case Professor Nanayakkara also asked the District Judge to issue an Enjoining Order also called an Injunction to restrain the University of Sri Jayewardenepura from implementing his interdiction from his post of professor. The enjoining order was issued as an interim measure but after hearing the arguments placed before the Court by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the Postgraduate Institute of Management, the learned District Judge had set aside the enjoining order and refused such relief as requested by Professor Nanayakkara. Professor Nanayakkkara has now lodged an appeal from the District Judges order to the Provincial High Court of Appeal of Colombo and although the appeal had been listed for hearing it had been put off for no fault of the Appellate Court. Lawyers for the University say that there is no merit whatsoever in the appeal and in all probability the Appeal Court will dismiss it. Also by now, Professor Nanayakkara had reached the compulsory age of retirement (65 years) and has now retired from the University service. Hence his request not to be placed under interdiction is only a matter of academic interest and not of any money value. It is also alleged that Professor Nanayakkara had filed the District Court action to avoid the shame of an interdiction by the University Council because his academic record will show that he ended his career with an interdiction for a financial fraud !. What is also talked about is that before he retired on reaching the compulsory age of retirement of 65 years, Professor Nanayakkara started a private Graduate School of Management (GSM) at the World Trade Centre building in Fort. This was in direct competition with the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) which he claims he founded. It did not really matter to the PIM because very few students applied to the GSM but the criticism is that Professor Nanayakkara commenced his own private Graduate School while drawing a monthly Professional; salary from PIM ! However, it appears that the World Trade Centre building had to be vacated because Professor Nanayakkara was unable to pay the high rent and he has now shifted his Management School to an address in Park Road, Colombo 5. He is also conducting a few Workshops from that venue. The Gunapala Nanayakkara saga has not yet ended. The final outcome depends on results of the CID inquiry. There are a few from among his former students who feel that life has now become very hard for him and that he should be left alone and

permitted to spend his retirement without being pursued in the way now occurring. However, the majority view is that one cannot overlook or condone deliberate misappropriation of public funds which is a serious criminal charge. Being a capable teacher does not justify financial fraud. If he stole a large sum of the funds of a public educational institution of the PIMs International Centre at Dubai then he must be held accountable and must answer. If not, it will be a message to others also that they can commit such frauds and go scot free.By a Special Correspondent 12:20PM | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZilvNysmWkbg Posted by Thavam