Mystery death of acting chairman and boardroom politics over succession

More from Chari de Silva’s memoirs

Shortly after Roy (Hinton’s) departure, I was honoured and delighted when the Bridge Federation of Sri Lanka invited me and my regular Bridge partner Duleep Kumar to represent Sri Lanka at The National Bridge Championship in India. It meant that I would need to take two weeks’ leave. As Eldsworth was holidaying in Australia I went upstairs to meet Louis (Samarawickrema) who was the Acting Chairman.

When I told him that I needed two weeks’ leave he told me with great cheerfulness that he too would be taking leave after I returned to go to Rome to seek permission from the Papacy to marry Rita Fernando, who was a divorcee. I had visited Louis some days earlier and he had told me of his whirlwind romance. He was very joyful about it. I had misgivings about his fiancee but kept them to myself.

One night soon after, Susheela and I attended Nimal de Livera’s birthday party. Our good friend, Dr Wickrema Wijenaike was one of the guests. I remember we had a very enjoyable time and when the time came for us to break up and go home it fell to me to give Wickrema a lift. He was quite inebriated and in high spirits, and insisted on our dropping in on our bachelor friend Louis who had been his classmate and lifelong friend. As it was probably about 1.00 a.m., I refused to disturb Louis, much to W’s disappointment.

The next morning at 6.30 a.m. Wickrema rang me in great distress and told me that he had just been informed that Louis was dead. He was going to his apartment and wanted me to join him there. I did so and joined him in Louis’ bedroom. Louis was lying in bed and appeared to be fast asleep. There was no sign of any disturbance in the room and his slippers and spectacles were by his bedside.

On his chest there were two small wounds that appeared to have been made by a paper knife that was sharpened to a stiletto that was also lying on the bed. His door had been bolted from the inside and his French windows overlooking the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station were wide open.

There was an inquest at which I gave evidence to the effect that Louis had been in great spirits, looking forward to his trip to Rome. As suicide by stabbing appeared very unlikely and there was absolutely no reason for it, the verdict was ‘murder by persons unknown’. At the inquest it emerged that he had had a visitor, Rita Fernando, at about 11.00 p.m. She had left for the airport the next morning and taken off despite being informed of Louis’ death.

I had my own theory about what had happened. I discussed it later with my cousin Vimal Wickremasuriya who had been the magistrate that gave the verdict. I believed that Louis had committed suicide. My reasons were many. In the first place there had been no sign of any struggle and the bedclothes were undisturbed. Nothing had been robbed. The door had been bolted from the inside. I deduced from the two small wounds, one much deeper than the other, that Louis had tested himself first and then plunged the paper knife into his heart when he found that the pain of the first incision was not unbearable.

Then came the question why did he do it? Here I had my own theory that I do not wish to elaborate on.

Vimal told me that had the police reconstructed the scene as I had done he would undoubtedly have given a verdict of suicide. However, it was all for the best, because had the verdict been suicide, Louis, a devout Catholic, would not have had the church burial that he deserved. (My reconstruction and reasoning were of course influenced by years of absorbing Sexton Blake and Sherlock Holmes. There was a stage in my youth when I thought I would make a good detective).

I now gave my mind to the question of Louis’ large shareholding in Aitken Spence. He had left it to the Catholic Church in his Will. I consulted my good friend Ratnasabapathy, senior partner of Messrs Julius & Creasy, the company’s lawyers. We went through the Articles of Association and found that the company had the right to requisition the shares of a member when he died. Without any further ado (Eldsworth was in Australia on holiday) I requisitioned the shares and paid a cheque for their full value to the Church. The shares were purchased by the Shares Trust.

At some time during the preceding two years we had invited a lawyer by the name of Walter Wimalachandra onto our Board. He was a close friend of Michael’s and was a decent, pleasant sort of man who did not cause any waves. He got along well with all of us.

I remember Michael, Norman (my Co-directors) and I driving to the Airport to meet Eldsworth who was deeply shocked by Louis’ death. He had decided to quit the company and settle down in Australia where all his children were. He gave us notice that he would be retiring with effect from March 31, 1972. None of us were caught by surprise as it was a predictable turn of events. That I would take over as Chairman and Managing Director was understood by all.

Which made the events at the next board meeting at which I would have been appointed Chairman, all the more shocking. Just before the board meeting Michael and Norman came into my office, mumbled something that I did not catch, and rushed off. The first item on the Agenda was the appointment of the new Chairman. Eldsworth who was looking very embarrassed said that Michael and Norman had come to him just before the meeting and said that they would like Walter Wimalachandra appointed Chairman and Michael and me to be Joint Managing Directors; or in the alternative, me appointed Chairman and Michael appointed as MD.

I was stunned by this shocking turn of events that caught me completely by surprise.. I was also very angry, and asked Eldsworth, quite sharply, whether there was any good reason for this sudden change in plan and departure from tradition. I pointed out that apart from being five years senior to Michael as a director, I had done more for the company, by far, than anyone else. I pointed out to Eldsworth how unworkable for a company such as ours it would be to have Joint MDs.

When I asked Eldsworth whether there had been anything lacking in my performance for me not to be both Chairman and MD as he had been, he immediately denied it. Then I asked Walter, across the table, whether what they were proposing was fair. He was too decent and honest a man to say that it was.

Eldsworth, who must have been astounded by the behaviour of my two colleagues, quickly confirmed my appointment as Chairman and MD. Looking back on my performance in the worst crisis I had been faced with in my life, I cannot but congratulate myself on the total presence of mind I had displayed. I could so easily have been at a loss for words in the shocking circumstances.

Now came one of the most difficult situations in my working career. Here was I as Chairman and MD with three other directors two of whom had just attempted a coup that had failed. How was I going to handle them? Between the two of them they had more ordinary shares than I had. It was true that I had Management shares that gave me more votes than them, but votes had never decided any decisions at Aitken Spence, and Management shares had never come into play.

If it came to exercising power through Management shares the company was clearly headed for a breakup at the top. I thought hard and deeply through the situation and decided that I was not going to rock the boat by having any sort of showdown. I never made any comment on the extraordinary behaviour of MY two co-directors. I behaved towards them as if nothing untoward had happened. I confided in nobody so that no one (other than Susheela) knew what had happened. I realized that if they ganged up against me I would have been helpless as all decision-making was by consensus.

I decided that I needed the protection of having another director on the board. So while Eldsworth was still there I saw to it that a decision was made to appoint G.C. Wickremasinghe onto the board. Thereafter I decided that I would very gradually exert my authority, which was more moral than anything else. I was not going to let anger or hard feelings affect our relationship which remained cordial. In effect, I completely forgave them! This was a brilliant decision as subsequent events showed.

(To be continued)