The office of the crisis-hit Golden Key (GK) at Bambalapitiya was one of chaos on Tuesday morning when about 250 GK staff shouted slogans demanding their salaries from the company.
Up to the entrance, the ground floor was crowded with GK workers, some screaming and some crying while others were outraged and pointing fingers at Shantha Ranathunga, the financial controller of the company.
He was facing the angry staff at the foot of the stairs to the first floor – simply listening to the staff and at times smiling at the ‘insults’ hurled at him by the employees. The entire ground floor was without any electricity and the right corner of this floor was a virtual dump yard of files and paper. Some employees were pointing at the piles and demanding why the files were scattered like this.
"At this rate none of the depositors can be paid, because you cannot find anything when the documentation is in such a state," one employee said. A female employee weeped and said she worked for nearly 10 years and is now reduced to the gold earrings she was wearing. “My family depended on me. Now I don't know whether I have a job or not," she said.
Another employee said that Mr. Ranathunga has withdrawn his salary from the Ceylinco Chairman, Lalith Kotelawala’s office.
Mr. Ranathunga denied this to The Sunday Times FT saying he needs to cooperate with the CID in their investigations, and that he came to the premises due to this reason.
The first floor of the building was equally dim as the first floor was without any electricity. The entire area was steamy and stuffed amidst the furore of the employees. Some CID officials were recording statements from an employee in a first floor room which was equally messy. “The CID wants to trace the files which have recorded transactions worth Rs 6 billion. This amount was lent as inter company transactions,” a company employee said. He said the irony is that Mr. Ranathunga does not know where these files are. The entrance to this floor was manned by a police constable.
Another employee said that Nihal Peiris, a director in a Ceylinco-related company who has streneously denied reports that he is the Deputy Chairman at GK, had telephoned the Bambalapitiya police station requesting the OIC to disperse the company staff. “How can he do this if he does not hold such a position?” an employee asked.
The Bambalapitiya OIC came at about 10.30 and requested the staff to mark their attendance and leave the premises and said their labour rights will be intact. The employees disheartened and lost, disbanded at about 11 am and the GK doors were closed by asecurity personnel. |
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