Is the Upali Group dead?

Yesterday, (the 25th Feb), I bought a slab of Kandos Chocolate. The big slab, 180 grams, LKR200. Yes, I like chocolate. No you can't have any.

So I start munching away at it. I like my chocolate melty, when you get this gooey paste that you can spread between your tongue and upper palate. Get the temperature right and its like a velvety, chocolatey layer. Feels so.. decadent. Mmmm mmm mmm mmm.

My indulgence was stopped by the poking of something sharp into my tongue. So after cleaning it off, I spit it out to take a look at it. It was a tiny metal shaving, about a quarter-inch long, slightly curved, and rather sharp at both ends. Anyone who has been near mechanical stuff can tell you this was a metal shaving off a machine, possibly a sheared off or thread-stripped bolt. Suddenly, I don't feel quite so decadent anymore.

Now I'm the first guy to admit that I need more iron in my diet. But I prefer to get it in the form of good rare steaks. And I think even the most frothing-at-the-mouth health addict would suggest that I get my daily recommended intake in a slightly less direct form than pure metal shavings. So, I decide to call them up and see what's going on. Maybe tell them to check their machinery or something like that. And the hunt was on.

The first stop is Google, with a search for upali company sri lanka. Among the many myriad results are the links for The Island, and the wikipedia entry for Upali Wijewardene, the founder of the company who died when his Lear jet exploded 25 years ago last week (Feb 19, 1983 to be precise). No help there, but now I know its called The Upali Group of Companies. Come Watson, the game's afoot.

So the next search is for upali group of companies +contact. For those of you who don't know, adding the + to the search makes sure that the word following it is there in the sarch page. For phrases, use the plus-sign followed by the phrase in quotes. And the first result was a news release from Sri Lanka Telecom informing people that they are to provide total communication solution to Upali Group. Which, I assume, means the numbers are on SLT's directory, especially since the release was in 2007. So there's my next stop.

And so, my next search is the Business section of SLT's online phone book. A search for Upali brings 88 search results, of which at least 40 are for the Upali Group of Companies. One of them - (011) 234 2238 - is for Ceylon Chocolates Ltd. And a call to the number informs me that it is not in use. This cannot be good. So I randomly try a few more numbers, excluding the newspaper ones. It's the same response to them all. Curiouser and curiouser. But now I have a direct company name - Ceylon Chocolates Ltd.

Back to the Goog and this time the search is ceylon chocolates. Multiple hits, and the 6th on the list is from the national Chamber of Exporters, and they have a number for the Marketing Director. Success at last!! So I call the number - 011 2446611 - and I get asked if the person is a patient. Patient? Patient!!?? What the fuck? Apparently now the number is front desk number of the Nawaloka Hospital. Back to square 1.

A bit more digging gets me a link that points me to 011 4609000, which is a Suntel number that also doesn't work. And the NCE site tells me that the email is ccl@upali.lk. So now I have two leads. www.upali.lk is a non-working site, and upali.lk leads to some kind of login page with the LankaCom logo on it. But first, I decide to search on the Suntel directory page, and a search for upali there gives 39 results. Of which, 35 are for either Upali Investment Holdings Ltd. (29 numbers), or Upali Newspapers Ltd. (6 numbers). And the Upali Investment Holdings numbers are not in use. So I call up Suntel's helpline. Asked for the numberd for Upali Investment Holdings, and was promptly told that the numbers have been disconnected for non-payment. Oops.

Next I called up LankaCom. A few phone calls later, and some machan-talk to a bunch of guys, and I find that LankaCom's deal with Upali is probably on a contra basis. Which means that LankaCom gives them service, and Upali gives them free advertising. There is no sign that the Upali account is in deliquency, so the contract should go on for a while longer. Since LankaCom runs the Island and Divaina sites, it is unlikely that this will end any thime soon.

Now here are my questions, and if anyone can answer them I would be very grateful. First, what is the phone number for Kandos/Ceylon Chocolates Ltd.? I don't have the wrapper, but I would like to get the number. What is the financial status of the Upali Group? Once one of the largest and most stable Sri Lankan conglomerates, they had newspapers, electronics, an internal airline (remember Upali Helicopters?), estates, and even a motor car assembly plant. Upali Wijewardene was planning on eventually running for president. And now, they seem to be in delinquency to payments to at least Suntel, and probably to SLT as well. The Upali Group of Companies is now Upali Investment Holdings Ltd. When this kind of shell game is done, it means that things are heading south, and the investors are about to be skinned while the Directors run off with the assets.

I am not sure where to go next with this. I am not going to go hunting for the account balances of the Upali Group in whatever name it has. I don't have the time, I don't have the resources, I don't have the patience. Maybe someone who'll make money writing this for the newspapers can follow it up. All I know is that Upali used to be great. Now it is far from it. And Upali Wijewardene is probably spinning in his watery grave.