Doctors mesmerised by Touchwood voodoo
View(s):Six top specialist doctors in Sri Lanka are among those who were attracted into investing in crisis-hit Touchwood Investments PLC and are now ‘running all over’ trying to recover their huge pile of cash.
One of the doctors, who declined to be named, told the Business Times that just like other investors they had invested in the company expecting a favourable income after a certain period of time, but it had not happened in the last few months.
One of the doctors said, “We invested on long term projects like the sandalwood plantation around six to seven years ago and on short term projects like the debentures around six months back. We have not received the interests for those debentures the last two months.” They have requested the company to pay their due interest but the company has said it is not in a position to do so.
It was during the time of the Touchwood founder chairman Roscoe A. Maloney that the six doctors invested in the company. The victims believe Mr. Maloney and his wife Swarna have taken the money and fled the country which is one of the reasons why no interest payments have been made for the last two months. Mr. Maloney and his wife had failed to mention about other companies in the Touchwood group at the time of launching the investment plan.
The ‘victim’ doctors complain that the company has not been transparent in its dealings and its website also doesn’t have disclosures about other connected companies.
“At the beginning there was only one company called Touchwood but now we realise that there are different companies under the same name of Touchwood,” one doctor said.
They were aware of Touchwood Investments PLC and Touchwood (Pvt) Ltd being two different companies under the same umbrella only after the recent debenture issue.
Asked about these concerns, newly appointed Touchwood Investments chairman, Lanka Kiwlegedara said, “As I told you last time, I still stand by my word that Touchwood Investments PLC has ‘nothing’ to do with Touchwood (Pvt) Ltd. The two companies have two different managements. I’ll be responsible for any issues at Touchwood Investments PLC but not Touchwood (Pvt) Ltd.”
He refused to accept the fact that by virtue of Touchwood Investments owning a 45 per cent stake in Touchwood (Pvt) Ltd, according to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), his company also has a responsibility towards the other firm.
He also said that debentures and bi-culture products which were under Touchwood Investments have been temporarily halted for a while since the monthly interest rate the investors obtain is 2 per cent whereas for a year it is 24 per cent and this was a non-profitable project for the company.
When he was questioned as to what would happento the investors who had already invested on debentures and bi-culture products,” he responded, “Since the investigation and audits are being carried on the company, it will take some time to pay back their interests.”
He says after he was appointed Chairman, he had taken steps to restore some normalcy in the company.
(RM)