Fresh Interpol alert to arrest former CIFL chairman
President Maithripala Sirisena’s intervention in the crisis at the battered CIFL (Central Investment and Finance Ltd) where depositors are struggling to get their money back has led to a renewed Interpol alert to arrest the company’s former chairman Deepthi Perera said to be hiding in Thailand.
K.W. Gunawardena, President, CIFL Depositors’ Association (CIFLDA), told the Business Times that on April 17 at the request of the President, a 4-member association delegation met him at his official residence at Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo.
The President told the delegation that he has submitted all the documents that were tendered to him by CIFLDA (prior to the presidential election) to the relevant officials to process them in order to settle the dues to the CIFL depositors, according to Mr Gunawardena.
He said that in the meantime, Senior Advisor to the President, Thilak Ranavirajah who has been assigned by the President to coordinate the issues between the association and the authorities has sent a memorandum to the CIFLDA, the Central Bank and the CID.
The CID Interpol OIC is taking necessary steps to bring down former CIFL Chairman Deepthi Perera, accused of misappropriating Rs. 1.6 billion of CIFL money, from Thailand where he is learnt to be at the moment. When the President was told that a similar alert had been issued some months back but little action had been taken, he had instructed the authorities to pursue the matter vigorously.
The CID, which has already alerted the Interpol on this matter, will renew the request.
Mr. Gunawardena said that the CID also has submitted a B Report to the Attorney General in a bid to file a court case against Mr. Perera. He said the President’s intervention in this manner was a blessing since 30 of their members who were senior citizens have died unable to meet their medical expenses as these elderly persons were living on the interest they received on the lifetime savings deposited in CIFL.
He said that 75 per cent of their members are all senior citizens and out of them more than 50 are in a pathetic situation having cancer, heart failure, kidney problems, high cholesterol and diabetic as they find it very difficult to get necessary funds to meet their medical expenses.
Mr. Gunawardena said that President Sirisena has instructed the Finance Ministry Secretary to take all necessary action to settle the CIFL crisis. He said that most probably, as a result of persistent media coverage on CIFLDA agitations (particularly the Business Times), the Central Bank recently inserted a newspaper advertisement in all three languages requesting all CIFL depositors to submit details of their deposits on a format given in the advertisement and that this information would be directed to the KPMG audit firm.