Deshmanya Deshabandu
Deshabandu ( si, දේශබන්දු, translit=dēśabandu; ta, தேசபந்து, translit=Tēcapantu, translation=Patriot) is the third highest national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The ti ...
Jeewaka Lalith Bhupendra Kotelawala is a
Sri Lankan businessman, who was the chairman of
Ceylinco Consolidated and also was the founding chairman of
Seylan Bank
Seylan Bank PLC ( si, සෙලාන් බැංකුව, ''Selan Bænkuwa'') is a publicly owned Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka. It has branches both in urban as well as rural areas of Sri Lanka. Seylan bank had 167 banking centres island wid ...
. He was listed in 2007 Sri Lanka Richest List. He was
remanded for the
misappropriation
In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person.
Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...
of 26 billion rupees of investments from the failed Golden Key Credit Company.
Early life and education
Born to
Senator Justin Kotalawela
Justin Kotelawala, CBE, JP (22 August 1904 - 2 April 1973) was a Sri Lankan businessman and Senator. He was the former Chairman of the Ceylinco Group.
Early life and education
He was born to John Kotelawala, a police inspector turned busines ...
a Ceylonese politician and businessman and Millicent Kotelawala ''nee'' de Silva, daughter of
Sir Arthur Marcelles de Silva, a leading surgeon. He was educated at
Royal College, Colombo and studied chartered accountancy in the UK. He is the nephew of
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
John Kotelawala, the third
Prime Minister of Ceylon
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, w ...
.
Career
Taking over
Ceylinco Consolidated from his father in the 1960s, Kotelawala expanded the group into new fields including banking, non-banking finance, investment banking, housing and property development, travel and leisure, communication & information technology, education and healthcare and, more recently, microfinance. He also founded a peace initiative in Sri Lanka, three years after being wounded in an
LTTE attack in 1996.
Awards and honors
*Kotelawala was awarded an
Honorary Degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
as
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
by the
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
''Vijja Uppattam Setta''
, mottoeng = Among all that arise, knowledge is the greatest
, established =
, undergrad = 14,750
, postgrad = 3560
, administrative_staff = 3950
, cit ...
*He had been awarded the title
Deshmanya by the Government of Sri Lanka.
*Fellow of the
Chartered Management Institute
*Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Bankers
Personal life
Lalith is married to Sicille Kotelawala (née Fernando) a daughter of
Sam Peter Christopher FernandoLalith Kotelawela to celebrate 69th birthday tomorrow
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotelawala, Lalith
Sinhalese businesspeople
Sri Lankan Christians
Converts to Christianity
Alumni of Royal College, Colombo
Living people
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Prisoners and detainees of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan prisoners and detainees
Sri Lankan criminals
Sri Lankan fraudsters
1938 births
Deshamanya