All 26 branches of the Sri Lanka Human Resources Development Co-operative Bank Society Ltd. in the Galle district have been closed, allegedly because of mismanagement and fraud.
Hundreds of Galle residents are reported to have lost their lifetimes’ savings deposited with the Mawanella-based bank and its branches, including those in Batapola and Meetiyagoda, in the Ambalangoda electorate.
Most of the bank’s clients are typical village folk, including farmers, fishermen and cottage industry employees.
One irate depositor said the branch managers had projected themselves as “developers of human resources, but the only development they were interested in was developing themselves and their families by swindling unsuspecting villagers”.
According to reports, billions of rupees are owed to Galle district depositors.
One depositor, who requested anonymity, described the bank branch managers’ modus operandi: “They would call on residents and invite them to deposit all their money in the bank, promising high rates of interest. They would also promise us jobs at the bank. Potential employees were told they should find customers, and that their jobs would be confirmed only after they had brought in a certain minimum as deposits.”
Depositors allege that the Meetiyagoda branch manager and his wife, who was working in the same office, were absconding with more than Rs. 9 million in depositors’ savings. The manager is alleged to have taken the money by using false applications for loans for his family members.
It is reported that over the past few months employees, believing they had no future prospects with the bank, had started to leave the bank in increasing numbers.
Swindled depositors have formed a protest society and written appeals to all relevant authorities, including the head of the bank’s head office in Mawanella, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Galle, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The letters cite several examples of fraud by the Sri Lanka Human Resources Development Co-operative Bank Society Ltd, and carry copies of incriminating documents.
In one case, Batapola resident M. H. Ariyaratne had sold a property of his to the bank for Rs. 1.3 million. The bank’s files, however, showed a receipt for Rs. 1.4 million. The bank manager told the owner of the land to deposit Rs. 5 lakhs of this money in his daughter’s name. Later, the land-owner’s daughter was unable to withdraw her Rs. 5 lakhs.
One employee at the Batapola bank branch was said to have been given a job as acting manager at the Meetiyagoda branch as a reward for depositing Rs. 250,000 with the bank. Members of his family deposited more money, several lakhs of rupees, to ensure the job was made permanent.
Sriyanthi Guruge, a former employee of the Meetiyagoda Kaolin Refinery, deposited Rs. 400,000 – her entire Employment Provident Fund savings – in the Meetiyagoda branch. She said the bank manager had promised a “big interest”. Since losing her deposit, Ms. Guruge is destitute, not knowing where she will find the money to buy her next meal.
In their petition letters, the depositors are asking why the authorities, including the Central Bank, continue to be silent on the matter.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the head of the bank at the head office in Mawanella had sent a letter to a former employee asking him to hand over all files in the Meetiyagoda branch to the regional office in Galle.
|
E-mail