Govt. to pay Golden Key depositors from tomorrow

23 July 2015 03:13 am

As per the proposal made by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake through his interim budget, the government is to begin the disbursement of payments to the deposit holders of the defunct Golden Key Credit Card Company Ltd from tomorrow, a press statement said. 

The Cabinet of Ministers gave the approval last week to the payment schedule proposed by the finance minister in order to solve the long-standing issues faced by the Golden Key depositors. Accordingly, the depositors who have had their account balance up to Rs.2 million will be paid within one month from July 24.

The Treasury will provide Rs.544.3 million needed for this first tranche and the recovery of this fund will be made through the liquidation of the assets of Golden Key with the permission of the Supreme Court where a petition in this regard is being heard.

The Supreme Court had earlier given a ruling to pay 41 percent of the account balance to the depositors. Earlier in January this year, all Golden Key depositors were given an interim payment up to Rs.300,000, irrespective of their account balance.

The government has also decided to settle the dues of those who have deposits below Rs.10 million within the next two months and those of above Rs.10 million within one year. Accordingly, a further sum of over Rs.7 billion is needed and Minister Karunanayake has proposed that funds for these payments could be recovered from liquidation of the assets of Golden Key and the profits transferred from the Central Bank.