Dhammika Perera

Dhammika was born in 1967 at a private hospital in Katukurunda Nursing Home in Payagala. He pursued his primary and secondary education at the Taxila Central College, Horana.[9]

Perera enrolled in the National Diploma in Technology (NDT) program at the Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa during the time of civil war before dropping out later to pursue his business ventures. He then decided to move to Taiwan to pursue his career in technical training for a period of 6 months. However he returned from Taiwan after 3 months due to his lack of knowledge on technical skills.[9] He started machine manufacturing business in 1987 close to his residence in Payagala and continued the business until 1991. In 1991, he had to venture into car sales centre in Paiyagala following a ban imposed on jackpot and other machinery business by then President Ranasinghe Premadasa.[10]

He also ran Tito Electronics, an electronic shop repairing electronic circuit board in Colpetty. He then ventured into gambling and started his own casino business in 1993 in Isurugiri. Dhammika also started up business producing and selling neon bulbs in 1995, at a time when none of the manufacturers were not keen on selling those bulbs. He also met then International Monetary Fund resident representative in Sri Lanka Nadeem Ul Haque in 1998 and developed strong bonds.[11]

He also ventured into large scale businesses and decided to purchase and take over the ownership of Royal Ceremics in 1992 at the time when company was making losses and he became the owner of it in 2000. He also notably purchased the Pan Asia Bank in 2002 at a time when the bank was regarded as a loss making financial institution. He also partnered with popular investor Nimal Perera after acquiring the Pan Asia Bank in 2002 and the duo became arguably the most successful pioneers of Sri Lankan economy post the Civil War.[12] He has been the executive director of Vallibel Finance since 2014.

In 2013, Perera became Sri Lanka's wealthiest individual with a net worth of LKR 72.6 Billion (approx. $550 Million).[13]

He also owns holds major stake in major financial institutions such as Vallibel Finance, Vallibel Power Erathna, The Fortress Resorts, The Queensbury Leisure Ltd and Delmege Limited. He is also the current Co Chairman of Hayleys, Royal Ceramics Lanka, Horana Plantations and LB Finance. He is also one of the members of the Board of Directors of Amaya Leisure, Haycarb, Hayleys MGT Knitting Mills, The Kingsbury Hotel, Dipped Products, Lanka Floortiles.[14]

He became the chairman of Lanka Tiles in 2017 and was appointed as the co-chairman of Singer Sri Lanka in October 2017 after Hayleys agreed to buy Singer.[15][16] Dhammika was appointed as the chairman of Director Board of Lanka Ceramic PLC in 2017 but he resigned from the position on 31 August 2018.[17] He was also appointed as chairman of Board of Directors of Lanka Walltiles in 2017.[18]

In July 2019, he and his company Hayleys were accused of earning income through garbage scam which became a controversial issue after tonnes of garbage imported and dumped into the country from UK.[19][20]

Hayleys has since denied any wrongdoing in the matter and highlighted the fact that the Group’s logistics arm was merely providing logistics services including storage, value addition and re-exportation for its client Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation for a resource recovery operation.[21]

Calling for a press conference on the 22^nd of July 2019, the Managing Director of Hayleys Advantis Limited, Ruwan Waidyaratne, categorically denied the allegations levelled against the company in connection with importing garbage to Sri Lanka. In relation to 130 container loads of used mattresses that were stored at the their Free Zone yard premises, the company clarified that the mattresses were imported by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Limited, who is the actual owner of the cargo.[22]

In 2019, he was also rumoured to become the Presidential candidate representing United National Party for the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election.[23] However he refused the allegations and termed them as rumours.[24][25]

• List of Sri Lankan non-career Permanent Secretaries