Golden Key announces completion of Phase 3

Saturday, 26 July 2014 05:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Golden Key Credit Card Company Ltd. Chairman Priyantha Fernando has officially announced the completion of Phase 3 of payments to security deposit holders. Fernando goes on to say that the payments were made according to the Action Plan proposed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and duly approved by the Supreme Court in April 2013. In a statement he was full of praise for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Governor and staff of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, particularly of the Department of Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, the Chief Justice and the Bench of their Lordships Court and the Depositor Associations for the initiatives taken to settle the helpless depositors. He also emphasised on the hard work done by the Task Force which was delegated to investigate, analyse and acquire the assets of the former directors of the Golden Key Credit Card Company. The Chairman expressed his sincere gratitude for the staff of GKCCCL for working long hours under trying circumstances adding that without their contributions the achievements would not have been possible. He also expressed his gratitude to his able Board of Directors consisting Dushanthi Hapugoda, Jehan Amaratunga, Aruna Lekamge, V.K. Choksy and Vasantha Gunathilaka, who were a tower of strength in achieving the progress that it has made since their appointment in April 2013. He also went on to say that there are more assets to be taken over and they would not look back until the equation set out in the Plan of action is achieved. GKCCCL CEO Dinesh Perera points out the following equation which depicts the different phases according to the Action Plan. He is quite confident that they could complete the paying of Rs. 7,233 m which is 41% of the capital of deposits held as at January 2015, subject to the court orders for taking over/approving to sell assets for which the necessary documentation has already been presented to the Supreme Courts under the case bearing number SC/FR/191/2009, being received in the favour of the Golden Key depositors. The GKCCCL are in constant communication with the depositors associations as well as individual depositors who could communicate over a helpline (5230079) on each working day from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or call over at the GKCCCL office at No. 2, R.A. De Mel Mawatha, Colombo 4 during working hours. Further, CEO Perera has requested that any depositors who have not already received their payment under Phase 3 of payments could contact GKCCCL on 5230079 and speak to Paktsun as there are a few cheques which have been held back due to incorrect information. Perera also stated that customer briefings were periodically held and the last one was held on 23 July. The meetings where the Customers are briefed regarding the progress and the plans for repayment have been a success.

GKCCCL Director Hapugoda states that only a selected section of the customers could be accommodated at a given time due to space restrictions. She went on to say that these meetings paved the way for the depositors to understand the amount of work which has gone in for the cause and now the customers were starting to realise the true situation. The depositors state that they are satisfied with the recent progress under the new Board of Directors appointed in April 2013 and were eagerly waiting for the Supreme Court orders to receive the rest of their hard earned money which had been deposited with the Golden Key Credit Card Company Ltd. As per the repayment plan submitted by GKCCCL to their Lordships Court on 7 July 2014, the GKCCCL Board is happy to note that it would be possible to bypass the deposit liability conversion into shares by expeditiously recovering funds from Assets which have been identified and submitted to the Supreme Courts for direction and to pay the depositors by cash. This is now defined as Phase 5 of the repayment plan. The next step of the repayment plan (Phase 4) which is scheduled to commence shortly and would be made by way of direct transfers to the customers’ bank accounts by way of SLIPS transfers (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System). The total amount due under Phase 4 will be Rs. 2.4 billion. By and large the assets required to realise this amount of cash have been identified and the disposal process to realise the requisite cash has commenced.