Touchwood depositors to file complaint at CID
View(s):The Touchwood Stakeholders Association (TSA) plan to file a complaint with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday against the organisation and its former owners Roscoe and Swarna Maloney of cheating depositors.
TSA Co-ordinator lawyer Lakshan Dias speaking with the Business Times said on Friday at least 20 depositors would be lodging a complaint with the CID. This decision was taken at a May 9 meeting of TSA.
The complaint would be made highlighting that the Touchwood organisation had accepted money from various people and now that the company is closed and the management in hiding they expect justice to be meted out for fraud and cheating, Mr. Dias explained. The TSA depositors were working for some time to obtain an international warrant against the Maloneys as a result of which they have now agreed to file action against them with the CID.
It was pointed out that from tomorrow (Monday May 19), Mr. Dias would be filing caveats in the district land registries commencing with Badulla and later Matale, Kandy, Ratnapura and Kalutara. This would be carried out based on the land deeds of some of the investors in a bid to ensure that no one would be able to carry out any transaction based on the properties in these areas. Touchwood owns properties in these parts of the country for mahogany, vanilla, teak and sandalwood plantations.
The next depositors’ meeting would be held on May 23, he said. In addition, the TSA is currently working on obtaining data from their depositors and using this in their future cases to assist those affected.
Mr. Dias also noted that some of their depositors had agreed to write about the issues pertaining to the Touchwood organisation and their action in the vernacular press in which the TSA hopes to advertise in a bid to ensure a wider outreach to those unaware of the problems.