As there is no functioning cricket board at Maitland place, Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) CEO Ashley De Silva and COO Jerome Jayarathne are using this opportunity to get rid of honest employees, who can be threat for their wrongdoings. In last few months, Ashley and Jerome have conspired against many employees and transferred them without giving any explanation.
In latest episode, Jerome has sacked two veteran and reputed journalists only because they asked for carrying only their Asia Cup sponsor’s logos with the match reports.
According to sources, those two copy writers of SLC Media division Srian Obeyesekere and Bandula Molligoda had expressed their willingness to go to Dubai to cover ongoing Asia Cup. They requested Jerome to give them SLC sponsorship, but he refused. Then, Srian and Bandula somehow managed to find sponsorship on their own and asked Jerome for approval. This time also, Jerome denied!
Then only, Srian and Bandula wrote to SLC competent authority Kamal Padmasiri and requested him to give them permission to carry their sponsors logos with match reports.
On August 22, Bandula and Srian wrote a letter to Padmasiri.
The latter stated the following :
“Dear Sir,
The undersigned myself Srian Obeyesekere and Bandula Molligoda have been serving in Sri Lanka cricket’s media unit contributing to the website www.srilankacricket.lk for the last three years.
We are both veteran journalists, with myself having been Sports editor of the ‘Daily Island’ and ‘Sunday Island’ newspaper and Molligoda as Sports editor of the ‘Dinamina’, both having started our journalistic career at Lake House and now counting 30 years service.
We write to your good self to draw your kind attention to our having found sponsorship to cover this year’s Asia Cup in the UAE in venue in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We have found our own sponsors and wish to stress that there will be no financial expenditure required from SLC to cover the tour. As such we would greatly appreciate if your good self would kindly consider our humble request for your kind approval to cover this tournament, where we would provide on the spot match reports, interviews, previews and reviews centered on the Sri Lanka Cricket teams participation.
What the sponsor’s expects in return from SLC is to carry their logo with the match reports.”
However, in returned they were sacked without any prior notice!
“Mr. Jerome couldn’t fathom that they requested Competent Authority and as it hurt his ego, he immediately sacked them” a top SLC Official told Cricket Age.
The most disheartening fact is that both are completely dependent on their job at SLC for their living in this.
“Both are over 65, retired editors, who comes to work everyday, write 8-10 pieces a week. they depends on their job at SLC for their rent, food, travel, medicines” he added further.
Jerome, who manipulated things at got salary increments and luxury vehicles by going behind people’s, couldn’t fathom those two old journalists hurt his ego!
