Monies of depositors of the failed Golden Key Credit Card Co (GK) are to be returned on the basis of priority being given to those who need it most for their daily expenses, the Supreme Court decided on Monday.
When the GK fundamental rights case where depositors are asking that their money be returned, was taken up, Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva asked a 3-member committee – currently assessing the value of assets of the company and its directors – to prepare a re-payment plan and set out guidelines.
Under this, depositors who depend 100% on the interest to maintain themselves will be paid first, followed by those who rely on over 50% of the interest for household expenses and thereafter, others. The Central Bank was asked to seek affidavits from the depositors to prove their case – ie: the level of dependency from interest payments.
The GK company, owned by the Ceylinco Group, crashed last December leaving thousands of depositors in the lurch with a liability of Rs 26 billion. This led to a string of failures in the Group forcing the government to intervene and bail out some of the firms.
It was also revealed in Court on Monday that the issued capital of the company amounted to just Rs 700 prompting the Chief Justice to say those responsible should be jailed. Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman Lalith Kotelawala, at least three deputy chairpersons of related companies and a few more suspects are now in remand custody in connection with the alleged fraud at GK.
Two members of the valuation committee – Nelson Nagasinghe and Mahendra Panditha – were present in Court on Monday and a tentative report was submitted on their behalf. Prof Lakshman R. Watawala is the third member.
The report said the committee was working out the modalities of the repayments and requested Court to appoint a Chief Operating Officer (COO) and a Secretary to assist the committee. Mr K.P. R. Karunaratne , Additional Director at the Central Bank’s Bank Supervision Department was appointed as the COO while a Secretary is to be appointed later. The Supreme Court also directed the Central Bank to appoint an auctioneer and auditors to the collapsed Golden Key Credit Card Company to liquidate assets and pay back depositors.
These appointments will be made on recommendations made by the three member committee which is overseeing the liquidation of assets and repayments to depositors. Court also ordered an officer from the Inland Revenue Department to be appointed to collect taxes due to the government as depositors are to be repaid. Some depositors had not submitted details of their deposits. A Secretariat with a data base is also to be set up at the Central Bank to handle processing of the repayment process. |
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