Several directors and office bearers of the Golden Key (GK) Credit Card Co have begun in the process of disclosing their assets by way of affidavits to the Central Bank following a Supreme Court order.
One of the directors of the company owns 21 houses among other assets, according to the affidavit submitted to the authorities. Court has directed the Central Bank to prepare a list of GK, its subsidiaries and its directors. GK, its Chairman Lalith Kotelawala and directors and the Ceylinco Consolidated (Pvt) Ltd and their workers and agents have been barred by the court from selling, advertising for sale or otherwise disposing of, or taking any further steps and actions to dispose of the properties belonging to them.
The Fundamental Rights case filed by some depositors against GK comes up in the Supreme Court on April 27.
AG’s Department sources, in a startling revelation, said that there was documentary evidence to prove that 18 Deputy Chairmen of the Ceylinco Group drew salaries ranging from Rs.3 million to Rs. 10 million for serving in several subsidiaries of the Ceylinco Group . Most of them are serving in at least seven to 10 subsidiaries each apart from the main company.
The second suspect in the GK fraud case, Khavan Perera who is in remand was functioning as the Deputy Chairman/ Chief Executive of 35 subsidiaries. State prosecutors have alleged that Kotelawala, his wife Sicille and some other Ceylinco Group directors had misused monies of depositors. They had helped themselves to millions of rupees by way of salaries and allowances and also transferred large amounts of funds for charities within the Group.
Some of the documents seized by the CID recently revealed that several Ceylinco group of companies collected deposits without the approval of the Central Bank, misleading the general public. Meanwhile the GK Depositors Association is planning to hold another protest demonstration along with F&G depositors on Wednesday demanding the repayment of their money and protesting against the provision of shelter for Kotelawala who is under remand custody at the Colombo National Hospital’s Merchant ward. The GK fraud case will be taken up for hearing before the Mount Lavinia Chief Magistrate on Thursday, April 23. |
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