|
President proposes Act of Parliament to resolve
burning issue :
Swift relief for Sakvithi, Golden Key depositors
by Shirajiv SIRIMANE
 President Mahinda Rajapaksa has assured speedy repayments to all
depositors of Golden Key/Ceylinco, Sakvithi and other failed finance
companies at a meeting he held with representatives of depositors.
President Rajapaksa has instructed officials to explore the
possibility of acquiring Ceylinco Properties through an Act of
Parliament and totally settle all depositors. As a first step, the
Central Bank has decided to compensate a further 2,505 Ceylinco
depositors on January 15.
Vice President Ceylinco Depositors Committee, Dushanthi Hapugoda told
the Sunday Observer that they together with victims of Sakvithi
Investments and other collapsed financial bodies met the President for
over three hours and he assured a speedy settlement to this burning
issue. “The President had the time to listen to all our grievances and
he gave instructions to Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga,
Secretary Ministry of Finance, Dr. P B. Jayasundera, Governor Central
Bank, Ajith N. Cabraal, Attorney General Mohan Pieris, Additional
Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath and top Police officials to
follow up on the meeting,” she said. Ceylinco depositors told the
President that there were moves to pay back the deposits minus the
interest and if this happens some depositors would have to pay out of
their pockets.
“The President immediately instructed the Attorney General and
Central Bank Governor to counteract this,” she said.
Another issue raised by the Ceylinco depositors was to treat all
depositors big or small equally and this too was addressed. The
President also told the victims of Sakvithi and other collapsed
financial institutions to lodge complaints with the CID so that speedy
action could be taken to settle their dues. He instructed the IGP to
follow this up.
“We are very happy that the President had the time to meet us. We are
thankful for the responsible manner in which he brought solutions for
this issue,” a Sakvithi scam victim told the Sunday Observer. An
official of the Central Bank said that 2,615 Ceylinco depositors having
deposits less than Rs. One million were already paid Rs. 100,000 each
last year. On January 15, a further 2,505 depositors having accounts of
less than Rs. 2.5 million would be given Rs. 100,000 as the first
instalment.
“The Central Bank together with the Golden Key Depositors Trust Fund
is now accumulating more assets of the Ceylinco group so that more
depositors can be compensated,” the official added.
He said that though there were a total of 9,215 customers only 7,000
have registered with the Central Bank. Meanwhile an official of the
Finance ministry said that Presidential Candidate Sarath Fonseka who met
a few other Ceylinco depositors with JVP Parliamentarians has said that
if he is elected he would settle all the depositors through Treasury
Bills.
“This is a joke as the candidate is trying to use public funds
without selling Ceylinco property,” he said. |
