In the wake of the latest developments regarding the Golden Key Credit Card Company Ltd, the Founder Chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated, Dr. Lalith Kotelawala assured its customers payments and protection for its card holders.
The Chairman stated that on Friday 19th that he sought the advice of legal counsel and consulted the authorities including the CID because the Chief Executive Director of the Golden Key Credit Card Co. Ltd, S. Khavan M. Perera, admitted to mismanagement of the company and voluntarily handed over his passport. Mr. Khavan Perera also tendered his resignation from his directorates of Seylan Bank PLC and The Finance Co. PLC.
Furthermore, Dr. Lalith Kotelawala issued a public statement that during the last few days, he realised that the Golden Key has been involved in a major credit card fraud and that the employees of Golden Key are now beginning to reveal certain facts regarding the involvement of Mr. Khavan Perera.
In a press statement, Dr. Kotelawala stated that he has experienced only two such incidents in the past at very senior levels in the Ceylinco Group of Companies. We survived and both companies are now strong and healthy, one of them even winning a Presidential Export Award this year. Many customers tell me that they placed money in the Ceylinco Group of Companies because of the trust and confidence they have in me, he added.
Former (as of 19th December) Chief Executive Director/ Deputy Chairman, S. Khavan. M. Perera was functioning as the Deputy Chairman/ Chief Executive of 35 subsidiaries and was on the board of directors of approximately 20 other subsidiaries of Ceylinco Consolidated (Pvt) Ltd.
The Financial Times has been informed that Golden Key Credit Card Co. Ltd. was involved in accepting public deposits offering higher interest rates ranging from 24% to 28.5% per annum without being a Licensed Financial Institution approved by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
This was confirmed by a senior official of the Central Bank who also said that the bank is closely monitoring current developments.
One such depositor who wanted to remain anonymous stated that he realised certain interest payments by cheques were bouncing from the beginning of December 2008 and company officials convinced them that the payments will be settled by January 15th 2009. Further he stressed that from the second week of December 2008, Golden Key Credit Co. Ltd. had changed the conditions for the deposit withdrawals stating that the customer was to inform 45 days in advance in order to withdraw his money, whereas initially it was just 7 days notice. Another depositor (of over Rs.10 million) also claimed that he found out the resignation of Mr. Khavan Perera had taken place as a consequence of an internal audit conducted under the guidance of the Ceylinco Group Chairman, Dr. Lalith Kotelawala after finding out that depositors of Golden Key were withdrawing money on a large scale.
Last Thursday (Dec. 18th) when the Financial Times contacted Mr. Khavan Perera regarding the issue, he stated that Though there have been lots of rumours that the company is having financial difficulties, there is no such major financial issue. However after it was publicly announced on Monday Dec. 22nd that Mr.Perera admitted to mismanagement on Friday (19th), neither he nor the Finance Director of Golden Key Credit Co. Ltd. were available for comment.
The Financial Times has been informed that currently, control of the Golden Key Credit Co. Ltd. and its subsidiaries, (including Golden Key ENT Hospital (Pvt) Ltd.) have been handed over to the Board of Directors of Ceylinco Insurance PLC. However Chief Executive Director of Ceylinco Life, R. Renganathan said that he is not in a position to comment whilst Chief Executive Director of Ceylinco Insurance PLC Ajith Gunawardena stated on Thursday that he is not aware of such a change since he was out of country.
In a separate advertisement Golden Key customers have been summoned for a meeting at Colombo`s BMICH at 2pm on Tuesday the 23rd December.
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