Editing Harry Jayawardena (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
Jayawardena first joined a British-owned tea export firm in Santha as a tea trader.[citation needed] He moved to the government-owned State Trading Corporation (Consolidated Exports), better known as Consolexpo Ltd, becoming the head of the Tea Department, which controlled the monopoly of tea exports of Sri Lanka under the administration of Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike in the 1970s.[5][6]

===Private sector===
After resigning from Consolidated Exports, Jayawardena founded Stassen Exports Limited on 7 September 1977 to export Ceylon Tea.[citation needed] In 1988 Jayawardena's companies became a significant shareholder of the country's largest private commercial bank, Hatton National Bank.[7] These companies later ventured into many other areas. In 1992, his business empire bought a controlling interest in the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC (DCSL), which was at the time the largest transaction in the Colombo Stock Exchange.[citation needed] In 2007, under Jayawardena's Chairmanship, DCSL became the No. 1 listed company as per the "Business Today" Top 10 rankings.[8][9][10]

===Controversy===
In December 2006, an alleged attempt to remove the Chairman of the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka, Jayawardena, then managing director of DCSL, was allegedly quoted as threatening to shoot the chairman.[11] Subsequently, Harry Jayawardena assumed duties as the Chairman of DCSL. The same newspaper alleged that Jayawardena threatened a customs officer, many years back.[12]

Jayawardena announced his voluntary resignation from CPC (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation) on 12, January 2012, a post given by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Due to his personal issues, he announced his resignation.[13]

===Business interests===
Jayawardena was a major shareholder and Chairman of the board of directors of the following Colombo Stock Exchange companies:[14]

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka
Lanka Milk Foods – Chairman/Founder
Madulsima Plantations – Chairman/managing director
Balangoda Plantations – Chairman/managing director[15]
Browns Beach Hotels
Aitken Spence
Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings
Melstacorp
Jayawardena had interests in these publicly traded companies:[citation needed]

Hatton National Bank
Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon (DFCC)
And in these private companies:[14][citation needed]

Stassen Group
Milford Exports
Lanka Dairies
Ambewela Livestock Company
Pattipola Livestock Company
Lanka Bell
Continental Insurance Lanka
Bellavantage Pvt Ltd