Dilith Jayaweera, the Joint Managing Director of TV Derana, has sent a letter of demand to the Director of MBC Network (Pvt) Ltd, Rajendran Rajamahendran, seeking Rs 2 billion in damage over alleged defamatory statements made against him on Sirasa TV. 

The same letter of demand has also been sent to Faraz Shauketaly who describes himself as a business journalist. 

“My client holds a LLB from the University of Colombo and is an Attorney-at-Law by profession. He also holds a MBA from the University of Wales. My client being a co-founder through sheer hard work, commitment, and dedication together with unparallel and unmatched creativity seen in the industry has guided ‘Triad’ to be the number 1 advertising agency in the country in the process inter-alia has guided many local companies to be market leaders in their chosen field. 

Many campaigns spearheaded by my client has created important landmarks in Sri Lankan advertising industry including the highly successful “ Api Wenuven Api “ campaign launched for the armed forces. Based on the success built on the advertising industry my client over a period of time has embarked on a successful diversification of business endeavors including Advertising centric backward integration like Photography, TV production, Outdoor advertising, Public relations, Corporate publications & annual report production, Publishing, Pre-press & printing.” the letter says.

The letter states that Jayaweera suffered “loss of reputation, goodwill and dignity as well as pain of mind” and estimates compensation for these damages to be Rs.2 billion. 

The letter was in response to allegations made during the Sirasa TV ‘Newsfirst’ main bulletin, SMSs, and though web on May 17, 2015.