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Subaskaran at the inauguration of Lyca Productions Lanka, Colombo, August 2023.
Three state agencies in Sri Lanka have launched investigations into the Tamil-owned UK-based Lyca Group over its acquisition of a network of 12 media companies on the island, with questions raised over the legality of the transactions and the processes by which licences were granted.
The Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that the Ministry of Defence had directed the State Intelligence Service (SIS) to conduct a comprehensive probe into the media acquisitions. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sumathi Dharmawardena told the court that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in coordination with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), is investigating the roles of Ben Holdings (Private) Limited and Blue Summit Capital Management Pte Limited — both said to be affiliates of the Lyca Group.
Meanwhile, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has also launched a separate probe into the acquisitions, expanding the scope of scrutiny into Lyca’s corporate dealings on the island.
The revelations were made during a Supreme Court hearing on a fundamental rights petition filed by Jamuni Kamantha Thushara, Chairman of the Citizens’ Movement Against Fraud, Corruption and Waste. Thushara challenged the acquisition of the media firms, alleging a lack of transparency and due process.
President’s Counsel Uditha Egalahewa, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, argued that Sri Lankan state agencies had failed to conduct proper due diligence before granting broadcasting and operational licences to a “web of media companies controlled by Lyca Mobile UK”.
After hearing the submissions, a three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Janak De Silva, Menaka Wijesundera, and Sampath Abayakoon granted leave to proceed with the petition. The next hearing has been scheduled for 2 December.
The Lyca Group — a conglomerate founded by Eelam Tamil Allirajah Subaskaran in the United Kingdom and originally focused on telecommunications — has expanded significantly into Sri Lanka in recent years.
The group's foray into Sri Lanka has not been without controversy. In 2023, the Sri Lankan government barred Lyca from acquiring state-owned shares in Sri Lanka Telecom and Lanka Hospitals, despite the company’s attempts to contest the decision. The Lyca group's growing foray into Sri Lanka seems to have caught the attention of many, including the leaders of the extremist Sinhala Buddhist organisation ‘Sinha Le’. The group, which is linked to hate speech and racist attacks, claimed that Subaskaran funded the LTTE during the armed conflict and stood firmly against allowing the Tamil entrepreneur to do business on the island.
More controversially, the Lyca group has also been accused of holding close ties to the Rajapaksa clan. Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya oversaw an offensive that slaughtered tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in 2009, a series of massacres that have increasingly been recognised as a genocide. Despite being owned by a Tamil born on the island, Lycamobile went on to forge links with the accused war criminals.
In another setback, a French court fined Lyca €10 million for financial irregularities linked to its operations in Europe.
Lyca Productions is already a massive player in the Indian cinema industry, behind the production and distribution of some of the biggest budget Tamil and Hindi films in history.
