CIMA Sri Lanka President responds

"My attention is drawn to a news item that the London Head Office of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants has suspended the locally elected Council of the CIMA Sri Lanka Division with immediate effect.

I am compelled to respond to this news item because Glynn Lowth, President CIMA Global alleges that this decision was taken due to some failures in governance within the local Council in Sri Lanka.

This is a serious statement but very strangely, no specific instances have been made against the locally elected Council at any time.

The current Council of Sri Lanka Division were duly elected into office by the Sri Lankan membership in July this year at a properly convened Annual General Meeting through a democratic process at which a representative of the London office was also present.

Hence it is surprising that within a matter of a few months' unspecified issues of governance have surfaced against the local council, when in fact specific issues of failure on the part of the London office to follow accepted practices of good governance that CIMA stands for were pointed out at the AGM and in the resolutions, letters over a period of eighteen months, therefore this serious action by CIMA London is shortsighted because CIMA Sri Lanka Division is the largest grouping of members and students outside the United Kingdom and also the Council consists of qualified professionals of high standing, President CIMA Sri Lanka Gowri Shankar said in a statement.