Following reports that a prominent biscuit manufacturer was arrested in connection with the murder of Army Intelligence Unit head Major T. Nizam Muthaliph, Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Ltd., in a statement, clarified that the suspect was only a labour supplier whose services had already been terminated, and not in any other way connected to the company.
The statement said that Golden Bake (Private) Ltd. was a privately-owned company that had, since September 2004, manufactured wafer biscuits on contract basis for Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Ltd. and Little Lion Associates. An independent sub-contractor supplying labour to the Golden Bake factory in Ratmalana had been arrested in connection with the recent murder of Maj. Muthaliph. Subsequently, the services of this contractor were terminated by the management of Golden Bake.
The management of Maliban never utilized the services of this sub-contractor in its own factory, it said.
But the company stated that a section of disgruntled employees had instigated labour unrest, and work disruption at its factory, using these news reports to gain their own sinister motives by embarking on a smear campaign based on the false allegation that the CEO and HR Manager of Maliban were responsible for this labour sub-contractor’s illegal activities.
“The management of Maliban has conclusive evidence to prove that this section of employees is attempting to sabotage the growth of the company through this campaign, for their own narrow interests, which is to obtain the maximum benefits from the company without contributing to improving productivity and work practices.
The company has identified the need to improve productivity and reduce overheads as a priority in order to survive the impending competition from local and international biscuit manufacturers.
In this scenario, the management finds it ironic that anti-progressive forces are at work to subvert its forward march through a campaign of false propaganda, as this will be to the eventual detriment of the workforce that it claims to be protecting and thus make the company vulnerable to competition,” the statement further stated.
(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/07/15/front/8.asp)
