After being subjected to nearly seven years of tension and agony, Golden Key depositors received some solace as the GK Company began sending cheques to 2700 depositors this week following the transfer of Rs. 3.945 billion of tax payers’ money to the company account by the Treasury, officials confirmed.41 per cent of deposit money owed [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Some relief for Golden Key depositors after seven years

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After being subjected to nearly seven years of tension and agony, Golden Key depositors received some solace as the GK Company began sending cheques to 2700 depositors this week following the transfer of Rs. 3.945 billion of tax payers’ money to the company account by the Treasury, officials confirmed.41 per cent of deposit money owed to those disgruntled GK depositors with deposits ranging from Rs.2 to Rs.10 million would be settled within 21 days under the new repayment process launched on July 24, GK CEO Dinesh Perera told the Business Times All 2,700 cheques will be sent to depositors after stringent checks under audit supervision, he said adding that they have mailed 200 cheques on Wednesday.

With the settlement of money of these depositors the company will have to settle around 300 out of 9180 depositors who have been pushed to distress following the collapse of the GK Company in December 2008. “We will be posting at least 200 cheques daily to depositors to relieve them from their sufferings as soon as possible,” he said.A sum of Rs. 544 million was paid to around 2500 depositors with deposits up Rs. 2 million under the first phase of the latest payment plan under the 100 day programme of the government.The proposal made by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanyake to release an advance of Rs. 3.945 billion from the Treasury to the Central Bank for the repayment of the second phase for depositors holding deposits from Rs. 2 – 10 million and to reimburse the said amount to the Treasury by liquidation of assets of the GK Company, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in October this year.

The depositors were paid under four phases previously during the previous regime. Rs. 791 million was paid to 8,052 depositors under phase one, while Rs. 685 million was paid to 7,036 depositors under phase two.Phase three – the payment of Rs. 574 million to 5,777 depositors -, while under phase four, which concluded last January, Rs. 11 million was distributed among 457 depositors who had made investments of less than Rs.1 million.GK depositors’ activist Alex Jayasinghe told the Business Times that they have made a request from the Finance Ministry to appoint a 12 member committee of depositors to assist the authorities to recover the money granted from the Treasury and reimburse it by identifying and selling GK assets.He added that they will also work towards finding money to settle all the money deposited in GK by depositors after selling assets of the company.Mr. Jayasinghe paid a tribute to the government specially to Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake for his intervention in the settlement of long standing GK depositors repayment issue before the dawn of the 2016 new year.

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