What should be done to get Mahinda Deviyo to bring early and full relief to them ask these depositors having no one to turn to for justice. The fate of these men, women and children, who were considered part of "rich society"
(28 April, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The nearly 8,000 depositors of the fallen Golden Key Credit Card Company – one of the flagship outfits of the now discredited fraudster Lalith Kotelawala and his fugitive wife Sicille – are now condemned to suffer the fate of the Tamil people whom the late SJV Chelvanayakam QC, god-fearing man he is, lamented in the final stage “it is only God who can help them now” The actual list of 8,000+ having now gone up to nearly 10,000 - is testimony to the fraudulent society we have now become. After all we are a country where the measly dues of several hundreds of thousands of the marginalized poor, qualifying for Samurdi payments, was alleged to have been diverted to the hands of a top politico of the time. This society is expected to consider such acts of shameful robbery as “normal” The grinning man concerned - in and out of Cabinets blue and green - ended up building a Mansion in the Mountains. Good "progress and development" for a man who lived in a near hovel.
As to the law, due process and Income Tax authorities doing their job in the face of this daylight robbery of the public ???? The least said the better.
Out there in the “decadent” US of A Bernie Madoff, a Ponzi magician found committing similar offences, was swiftly convicted and will spend the rest of his life in prison. As to Lalith Kotelawala, who was in remand for sometime, he was facilitated out on the plea “being out in the open will enable me to gather up the necessary funds to pay up my dues of Rs.28 billion” Clever and influential man he is, he has subverted the system, clearly with support from the actors who run it – and lives freely, in comfort and in style. As to his honourable commitment to pay the nearly 9,000 middle and upper middle-class families he ruined, his answer appears to be “they asked for it. They deserve it” What a fine practicing Buddhist turned “good” Catholic? It is unfortunate Lalith has brought into disrepute the fine reputation of his respected father, his uncle and his illustrious family – all held with such high regard for generations in the country.
As to relief for the nearly 9,000 families - and, the thousands of school-going children whose future lies shattered, they appear to be forgotten in so far as the Rajapakse government is concerned. In fairness, one must say at some point President Rajapakse showed some genuine interest in the matter. Thereafter, the high point was when the Chief Justice herself took the lead in trying to bring the matter to close to the satisfaction of the deposit holders. There were then directives that a further sum of Rs.200,000 should be paid to all depositors by end December 2011. But this was not to be. This then became "by end March" where, it was suggested, this amount plus more will be made upon the sale of some immediately sale able assets (e.g. the Rajagiriya ENT Hospital). In effect nothing more has been heard since. In between, there was much contentious talk of forming a company with the funds available making all depositors share-holders. This not engage the interest of those concerned - already badly burnt at the hands of a leading Captain of Commerce and Industry. The hope placed in the trio of Chartered Accountants too did not bring results to meet the aspirations of the depositors. As matters stand, it appears even the CJ has passed the buck to the Attorney General’s Department. where the matter stands.
Very little has been done to forfeit the assets of the Directors, a threat that was floated.It is well known these
Depositors had helped themselves to princely rewards while Kotelawala held sway. Sicille Kotelawala, for all intents and purposes, lives openly in expensive London – under the very nose of INTERPOL. In exasperation representatives of the Depositors offered to go all by themselves to London to have Mrs Kotelawala arrested with the help of the British legal system. But that too remains a non-starter.
What should be done to get Mahinda Deviyo to bring early and full relief to them ask these depositors having no one to turn to for justice. The fate of these men, women and children, who were considered part of "rich society"
only 3 years ago is symbolic of the warped system and times we live in.
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