Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment (BOI) has asked the country’s immigration department to cancel the work permit of SriLankan Airlines’ CEO, Peter Hill, because of a personal spat between the airline and the country’s president.

An official working in the office of BOI director general, Dhammika Perera, says they have already notified the immigration department that Hill’s work permit should be cancelled.

“The decision was taken in the public interest because the airline failed to act in the interests of the major shareholder - the government”, says the official, who declined to comment further. Perera was unavailable for comment on 19 December.

Well-placed sources say the move to try and ouster Hill came after the country’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, at late notice tried unsuccessfully to secure 35 seats for himself and his entourage on board a SriLankan Airlines flight from London Heathrow

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