Dilith Jayaweera

Summary

• Dilith Jayaweera is a Sri Lankan politician and was a Presidential candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections.
• A lawyer by profession, he also owns several businesses in media, hospitality, pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors.
• Multiple liaisons between his businesses and the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) are reported.
• He had publicly supported cannabis cultivation within his political campaign.

Background

Dilith Susantha Jayaweera is a Sri Lankan businessman, a lawyer, and a politician. He was born on 18th September 1967, in Galle. He received his education at St. Aloysius College. Jayaweera graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo in 1989 and subsequently was 'called to the Bar' as an Attorney at Law. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the University of Wales, United Kingdom (2007).

In 2011, he was listed among the top ten ‘Business People of the Year’ by Lanka Monthly Digest (LMD), a Sri Lankan business magazine. In 2020, he was included in LMD’s A-List of the top 100 corporate leaders in Sri Lanka.

Image 1: Dilith Jayaweera. Source: Media Ownership Monitor Sri Lanka 2018

Political Career

Dilith was active in Sri Lankan politics since 2005. He publicly admitted playing a major role in bringing Mahinda Rajapaksa into power in 2005. He supported Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 presidential campaign. Jayaweera officially entered party politics in September 2023 by founding a new political party, Mawbima Janata Party(මව්බිම ජනතා පක්ෂය). On 4th August 2024, Dilith Jayaweera was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Sarvajana Balaya Party (සර්වජන බලය).. Jayaweera went on to compete in the Presidential Election held on September 21, 2024, and received 122,396 votes, which was 0.92% of the total cast votes.

Jayaweera contested the 2024 Parliamentary Elections as well from Gampaha District but failed to secure a seat. However, he became a Member of the Parliament through the National List mechanism since his party gained one seat at the election, marking his entry into the Parliament. He serves on several parliamentary committees, including Public Enterprises and Ways & Means, and three Ministerial Consultative Committees: Finance, Planning and Economic Development; Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation; and Industry and Entrepreneurship Development.

Political Positions held

• Leader – Mawbima Janatha Pakshaya – Sep 2023 to date
• Leader - Sarvajana Balaya – August 2024 to date
• Member of Parliament – from November 2024 to date

Government Positions held

• Private sector representative - Public Services Commission (PSC) – from 24th November 2020 to date
• Member - Presidential Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province –June 2020 - 2022 (appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa)
• Member - Presidential Task Force on Creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions to Climate Change – May 2021 – 2022 (appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa)

Other positions held

Time periods are mentioned whenever information is available in the public domain.

• Joint Managing Director – Triad Private Limited – 1993-2021
• Chairman - Power House Ltd. – 2003-2023
• Non-Executive Director - Summit Finance Plc– 2005-2014
• Director - Derana Macro Entertainment Pvt Ltd. – 2006-2023
• Non-Executive Director – Citrus Leisure PLC – 2010-2023 (it was first started as Reefcomber)
• Director - Citrus Vacations Ltd. – 2010-2023
• Chairman – George Steuart & Co. Ltd. – 2011-2024
• Director - Divasa Equity (Pvt) Ltd. – 2011-2023
• Non-Executive Director - Colombo Land & Development Co. Plc - 2011-2014
• Director - Liberty Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. – 2011-2023
• Director - Agrispice (Pvt) Ltd. – 2011-2023
• Director - Anantya Global Solutions Pvt Ltd. – 2011-2023
• Non-Executive Director - Panasian Power Plc - 2012-2013
• Chairman - Liberty Publishers Pvt Ltd. - 2018-2023
• Director - Sarva Integrated (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Imageline (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Printage (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Hammer BTL (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Hardtalk (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Adpack Productions (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Spaacs (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director -Thirty-Five KM (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Triadhot.Com Pvt Ltd.
• Partner - Capital Law Chambers & Corporate Consultants
• Director - Asia Commerce Exports (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Passikudah Beach Resort Ltd.
• Director -Triad Digital (Pvt) Ltd.
• Director - Citrus Aqua Ltd.
• Director - Asia Commerce Holdings Ltd.

Tobacco related activities

• Emagewise (Pvt) Limited is a subsidiary of the advertising agency Triad Private Limited. Triad is co-founded by Dilith Jayaweera and he serves as a Joint Managing Director there. Emagewise (Pvt) Limited provides services to produce financial reports, investor presentations, corporate brochures, and branding for publicly traded companies. Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) is one of their clients. Read more about Triad Private Limited on our TU page.
• In a statement in 2017, the Sri Lankan Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne alleged that Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) sponsored newspaper articles through Triad Private Limited, specifically mentioning the article titled "Increase of tobacco tax a hoax?" that criticised government’s move to raise tobacco tax. The Health Minister also mentioned that Dilith jayaweera had made attempts to publish this news article through a newspaper called Apple. Please visit our page on Triad Private Limited and Ceylon Tobacco Sponsored News Articles against Tobacco Tax – Minister of Health for more details.

Alcohol related activities

• His Facebook account includes photos of alcohol products with promotional captions.
• His Instagram account contained several photographs depicting him consuming alcohol.
• At the opening ceremony of Dilshan Pathiratne's ‘’Dadabbaraya’’ book, Dilith addressed the audience by glamorising alcohol and cannabis (ganja) stating that “ඊට වැඩිය ආතල් වැඩ ගොඩක් තියනවා සූස්ති ගැසීම, නස්පුට් වෙන්න බීම..... (There are many things to do that are more enjoyable, like smoking weed, drinking and getting trashed...)” , “මම ආසයි ඉදලා හිටලා ලැබුනොත් ජොයින්ට් ඒකක් අදින්න...(I like to smoke a joint if I get the chance at times…”).

Cannabis related activities

• His personal Facebook account includes photos of cannabis products with promotional captions.
• As mentioned above Dilith glamorised cannabis (ganja) use in his speech at the launch of Dilshan Pathiratne's ‘’Dadabbaraya’’ book.

• Gallery
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  Image 2: Dilith Jayaweera’s facebook post focusing alcohol promotion

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  Image 3: Dilith Jayaweera’s facebook post focusing alcohol promotion

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  Image 4: Dilith Jayaweera’s facebook post focusing cannabis promotion

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  Image 5: : Dilith Jayaweera’s facebook post focusing cannabis promotion

TobaccoUnmasked Resources

• Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC)
• Triad Private Limited
• Ceylon Tobacco Sponsored News Articles against Tobacco Tax – Minister of Health
• Rajitha Senaratne
• Mahinda Rajapaksa
• Gotabaya Rajapaksa

The local language translations