A petition filed in the Supreme Court alleges that the UK-based Lyca Group, along with its chairman and founder, Subhaskaran Allirajah, is actively expanding operations in Sri Lanka by “indirectly and fraudulently acquiring stakes in the local media sector.”
The petition, submitted by Jamuni Kamantha Thushara, contends that these transactions were executed through proxies to bypass Sri Lankan laws that prohibit foreign entities from owning media outlets. It further asserts that such violations of the law pose significant threats to national security and the country’s sovereignty.
The petition names 60 respondents, including the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, all Cabinet members, 10 companies and their directors, as well as Allirajah and his wife.
It lists eight companies that are either directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or affiliated with the Lyca Group. These companies reportedly hold television and radio broadcasting licenses issued by the former Ministry of Mass Media and broadcasting frequency licenses granted by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.
“Illegally, wrongfully, fraudulently, and through proxies, Lyca Group currently controls 11 television and radio channels,” the petition claims.
The media entities in question include VIS Broadcasting (Pvt) Ltd, which operates Monera TV, Sita FM, Red FM, and Tamil FM, and GMR Networks (Pvt) Ltd, which broadcasts Aadhavan TV and Aadhavan Radio. Colombo Communications (Pvt) Ltd operates Sri FM, Ran FM, and E FM, while EAP Broadcasting Company (Pvt) Ltd manages Swarnavahini and ETV.
The petition also names several individuals as respondents, including Govindasamy Thuraiappa Jeyaseelan, Group Director of Ben Holdings and a former Chief Operating Officer of Lyca Mobile UK, and Niruthan Rajasundaram, a shareholder in multiple implicated companies. Both individuals, the petition claims, were denied security clearance by the Ministry of Defence.
Despite these denials, the petition alleges that Jeyaseelan and Rajasundaram now oversee several media channels and broadcasting licenses “through fraudulent and indirect schemes.”
The document raises concerns that allowing the continued operation of these media channels, which collectively utilize key transmission infrastructure such as the Piduruthalagala Transmission Tower, represents a serious threat to national security and Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.
