V.P. (Totsy) Vittachi

Mr. V.P. (Totsy) Vittachi, a co-founder of the Stassen Group which has grown into one of the country’s biggest and richest business conglomerates, died in Colombo on Thursday at age 86-years and was privately cremated the same day in accordance with his wishes.

A member of the former Ceylon Civil Service, Vitachchi held several important public service positions including Principal Collector of Customs and Chairman of Consolexpo the state export trading organization where he made his first contacts with Messrs. D.H.S. Jayawardena, R.K. Obeyesekera and Zaki Alif who were all working there.

In recent years, the relations between Jayawardena and the co-founders of Stassen/Milford have broken down irretrievably and the dispute is now in court. Vittachi who was terminally ill for the past several months, has transferred his shares in the controlling companies of the conglomerate to his daughter, Sonia.

The relationship between Vittachi, Obeyesekera and Alif led to the forming of Stassen Exports Ltd. when Jayawardena, then tea manager of Consolexpo, Obeysekera, tea taster and subsequently Assistant Tea Manager and Alif who was a tea taster were compelled to resign due to trade union thuggery following the 1977 elections.

As Vittachi subsequently said it, the three former Consolexpo employees who used to meet on and off to discuss their safety and also their future, decided to form a small tea export company.

``They had the talent and knowledge but nothing else,’’ Vittachi recalled. They approached him and invited him to join the project. Knowing that all they had was their knowledge and ability, he readily agreed to support their cause and was invited to be Chairman of the company.

His associates say that it was Vittachi’s stature and guidance ``that made us what we are.’’

StassenExpoprts Ltd. was floated in 1977 with a paid up capital of Rs. 200,000 with Vittachi taking 20%. Jayawardena 20% plus another 20% which Vitachchi said he had asked to hold in trust for another Consolexpo employee who was joining them later, Obeyesekera and Alif 10% each, and the two Hulugalle brothers, Haris and Arjuna 10% each.

Vitachchi said that unknown to him Jayawardena ``secretly negotiated’’ with the Hulugalles and bought their 20% ``for a pittance,’’ taking 10% himself and giving Obeyesekera and Alif 5% each. He alleges that Jayawardena falsely said he was not interested in the shares.

One of the Hulugalles has told friends that he will be grateful to Jayawardena ``through sansara’’ for what was paid for his shares as this enabled him to educate his children abroad. But Jayawardena’s opponents claim this was a fraction of their true value.

As Vittachi had it, the Hulugalles generously provided Stassen Exports shelter in their offices at Multipacks and thereafter the company, and its associate, Milford Exports (Ceylon) Ltd., grew to what it now is at the pinnacle of Sri Lanka’s business.

Stassen later floated a private company, Milford Exports (Ceylon) Ltd. which owns 41.49% of Distilleries. Together with 12.65% owned by Lanka Milk Foods (LMF), the Stassen Group controls DCSL. Jayawardena owns 60% of Milford, Vittachi 20% and Obeyesekera and Alif 10% each.

The group which later bought into HNB has control of LMF, DCSL, Balangoda and Madulsima Plantations, Aitken Spence, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Lanka Bell and the Ambewella and Pattipola farms.

The son of a schoolmaster, Vittachi was the brother of Tarzie Vittachi, the legendary journalist. He wrote a knowledgeable and thought-provoking column for this newspaper under the byline Vijaya Perera, his first two names. Like Tarzie, a master of the written word, Totsy who compiled crosswords for the newspapers, a talent he inherited from his father, was a perfectionist in the use of the English language.

He hated Lankans being described as ``Sri Lankans’’ saying ``it is Lanka that is `Sri’ not the Lankans just like it is Britain that is Great and not the Britons.’’