The Central Bank is now in the process of compiling a list of Golden Key directors who had failed to declare their assets so far, to be reported to the Supreme Court for penalty, authoritative sources said.

Most of the 112 persons named as directors of the collapsed credit card company have not declared their assets in compliance with the Supreme Court directive, Central Bank officials said last week.

Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kotelawala and his wife Sicille had earlier submitted two interim asset declarations which were incomplete, the officials said. "They had also not included their wealth overseas".

"They will also be reported to the Supreme Court for punitive action", the officials said.

When the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by a group of Golden Key depositors was taken up last Monday, the Supreme Court ordered that directors who have so far not declared their assets be reported to Court for penalty on the next date of hearing.

"We are also trying to find out whether there were more than 112 persons who were named as directors in the list submitted by the company to the Central Bank", they said. "We need to dig deeper".

The assistance of the Government Valuation Department and the Land Registry are being sought to properly identify and value the assets declared so far by Golden Key directors before they are auctioned, the officials said.

"We have already catalogued these assets, but their net worth cannot be determined without a professional valuation", they explained. "It is only after this is done that we can add values to the list".

Take the 60-acre Golden Key teak plantation at Puttalam, as an example. It has been included in the list of assets, but a valuation should be done to determine its true worth to be disposed of, they noted.

Expressing confidence that there are sufficient assets to meet liabilities, the officials said a list of Golden Key depositors is now being processed to be placed before the Supreme Court. "This is vital for repayments to begin"

Around 8,500 depositors have already submitted details of their investments following the press notification inserted by the Central Bank on a Supreme Court directive, they said. "We have already processed most of them".

The Special Task Force on Golden Key at the Central Bank is handling the tough task of matching details provided by depositors with the information retrieved from the Golden Key system, they said. "There were instances where depositors’ names were found excluded from company records".

There is reason to believe that some deposits placed with Golden Key after October 2008 had not been accounted for but used to repay investments of customers demanding their money back, they pointed out. "That’s how some were left out of the system".

The names and the respective investments made are being collated on the basis of supportive documents provided by depositors who will receive an acknowledgement from the Central Bank in due course, they said.

"Contrary to claims by Golden Key that Rs. 90 million had been paid back to settle low value deposits up to Rs. 300,000, it has been discovered that there are even people who had placed Rs. 50,000 deposits still waiting to get their money back", the officials noted.

Meanwhile, the Golden Key Depositors’ Association has protested against attempts by the Inland Revenue Department to tax depositors who are struggling to eke out an existence without either their capital or interest.

"This is very unfair – it’s a gross injustice to harass these people who have been reduced to paupers", said Ms. Dushyanthi Hapugoda, the Association’s Treasurer.

Golden Key deducted a 1% tax from the interest earned by depositors, she said. "The company should have levied the applicable tax at that time as this was something which depositors don’t pay directly".

What happened to the 1% tax the company deducted from depositors?, she asked. "If there was a withholding tax as such Golden Key should have deducted it and sent the money to the tax department".

"Now suffering depositors are being asked to pay for the sins of others".

Already six depositors have died without an income to survive, she pointed out. "At a time people have lost their life-long savings and are going through agony, they are being asked to pay income tax".

She said depositors are being summoned by the Inland Revenue Department and asked to pay tax when some of them cannot even afford the bus fare to go there. "This is unacceptable".

"We intend to take up this matter with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as depositors have been going through a nightmare for over six months", Ms. Hapugoda said. "Trying to tax these suffering people is akin to ‘Gahen wetuna minihata gona enna wage’ (The man who fell from the tree being gored by the bull)".