Supreme Court terminates GK FR case

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday granted approval to the government’s new action plan of paying back 41 per cent of the deposits of the Golden Key Company (GK) and thus terminated the 6-year old case, GK counsel Prof. H.M Zafrullah said. All parties, including the depositors and the company have agreed to the settlement proposed by the government recently. Therefore, three Fundamental Rights petitions filed by depositors were terminated by the Supreme Court. Prof. Zafrullah noted that according to the new plan, the present board of directors of GK will be disbanded barring the chairman. He pointed out that two nominees from the Treasury and the chairman of GK will be appointed to the new board of directors of the company. GK depositors will be repaid their money using a facility of Rs. 8.5 billion from the Treasury in accordance with the proposal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremasinghe approved by the cabinet. Around 2000 depositors with account balances ranging from Rs.10 to Rs.20 million will be paid within two months as promised by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. The balance will be paid by liquidating GK assets. (Bandula)