Second stage payment for Golden key depositors

By Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

The Committee of Chartered Accountants (CCA) will commence the second stage of repayment to Golden Key Credit Card Company depositors (GKCCC) following the Supreme Court ruling to dispose of certain Ceylinco Group assets, said Head of CCA, Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala.

Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala

He said the Committee has decided to pay 75 percent of the deposit outstanding or Rs. 200,000 which ever is lower after deducting the first stage payment.

“The CCA needs Rs. 770 million and would require the disposal of assets such as the Golden Key Eye Hospital and the Sea Sands Hotel”, Prof. Watawala said.

He said the Supreme Court has approved the sale of the Golden Key Eye Hospital provided that the Singapore buyer pays US$ 12.1 million.

The repayment of GKCCC depositors commenced in early 2009 but the slow progress raised concerns among many about receiving their money.The Court ruling to dispose of assets of the Ceylinco Group has brought relief to depositors.

A spokesman for the GK Depositors’ Association said that large sums of money are still to be paid to depositors who have made commitments which they are unable to pay.

“The assets should be disposed of and the repayment expedited”, he said.

The Supreme Court earlier this month gave the nod to seek buyers for the Golden Key Company Australia (Pvt) Ltd. which is a computer company that has the IMAS package purchased from IBM.

The Court also decided to sell certain personal assets of Kavan Perera which included a house, an apartment and a car.

The Court ordered the CID to investigate the teak plantation project at Galewela as blocks of land had been sold by another party to about 90 buyers at the time the property was sold to GK.

The Supreme Court cancelled the issue of new ordinary shares by Ceylinco Investment Company Ltd. to Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL).

Prof. Watawala said that the sale of assets under the second stage will be approximately Rs. 1.3 billion and with the Rs. 782 million paid under the first stage Rs. 2 billion has been paid to depositors.

He said the Court decided to appoint Wealth Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. which is headed by Mangala Boyagoda to prepare a detailed plan of the assets of the Golden Key Group of companies, local and overseas and obtain information from the GKCCC chairman and directors.

“Boyagoda will be associated with the Committee in the preparation of the plan which will be submitted at the next hearing in Court”, Prof. Watawala said.

Those who had deposited less than five million rupees were paid Rs. 100,000 each under stage one of the repayment scheme. GKCCC, a part of the Ceylinco Group of companies owes depositors approximately Rs.26 billion.