Commerce and industries minister Risath Badurdeen is directly involved in this appointment.

Edirisinghe resigned citing health reasons, following a dispute with former chairman Nalin Fernando, after he was accused of irregularities over the controversial name-boards issue of Lak Sathosa.

He had got name-boards, done by Unilever at its own expense at Rs. 350,000 each, given without following tender procedures to an advertising firm owned by actor Kumara Jayakantha at between Rs. 800,000 and Rs. 900,000 each.

Edirisinghe is also accused of granting Rs. 150 million to this advertising firm for advertisements.

In addition, the 2013-14 audit report by KPMG blames Edirisinghe for a Rs. 4,500 million loss during the period he was the deputy general manager (operations).

He was in that position, when the irregularity in buying the local potato and big onion produce took place too.

Furthermore, he is without any qualification to hold the position of general manager.

Lak Sathosa employees question as to why an unqualified person faced with such accusations is going to be accepted back to the institution.