The quantum of cash credited to the special dedicated fund so far is sufficient to repay only 100,000 rupees of Golden Key depositors who had invested one million rupees, a senior Central Bank official said last week.

"We have to make do with what we have at this juncture as we don’t have the money to pay more", he conceded. "That’s why we did a calculation and imposed a maximum ceiling of 100,000 rupees on payments".

The Supreme Court has directed that 75% of deposits up to one million rupees be settled within a three-month timeframe under the first phase of the repayment plan.

"That’s right, but we have court sanction to accommodate payments on the basis of resources available", the official explained.

Asked for a figure on the amount available for repayments in the special dedicated fund maintained by the Central Bank, he replied, "It’s more than 300 million rupees".

"If more funds can be raised, we will be able to repay the full 75% under the first phase", he noted. "We cannot do anything more sans liquid cash".

Surely, the Central Bank can dispose of the assets and properties of Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kotelawala and other directors and raise more money, says Ms. Dushyanthi Hapugoda, a petitioner in the Golden Key Fundamental Rights (FR) plea now being heard before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Central Bank to identify and sell these assets to raise the required funds to repay depositors, she said. "But, not a single asset, either moveable or immoveable, has been sold so far".

The money in the special dedicated fund had come from the seizure of the bank accounts of Kotelawala and his wife Sicille, but apart from these take-overs, no other cash had been credited, she asserted.

When the Central Bank has clear orders from the Supreme Court, which had even set a timeframe for repayments to be completed, why is it complaining of lack of funds without selling identified assets, Ms. Hapugoda asked.

"We are moving in the matter, but there is a due process of the law to adhere to before selling these assets", the Central Bank official countered. "It cannot be done just like that".

Why cannot this so-called "due process of the law" be expedited even after directives from the Supreme Court?, Ms. Hapugoda asked. "The onus of raising funds has been placed on the Central Bank but is it happening?"

What about the moveable and immoveable assets of the other directors, including a Deputy Chairman who was drawing a monthly, all-inclusive salary of 6.5 million rupees?, she queried.

"How many months have elapsed, but nothing tangible has happened to grant relief to struggling depositors", she said. "Almost a year has gone by since Golden Key crashed, but not a cent has been repaid so far".

"We have to verify the deposits through an auditing process before repayments can begin", the official pointed out. "We are in the process of finalizing matters".

Asked when repayments with the "maximum ceiling of 100,000 rupees" could begin, he conceded that it could take more time as auditing is still incomplete.

He said there are discrepancies in certain Golden Key customer statements which need to be cleared before they can be repaid. "This is time consuming".

Asked why the others cannot be repaid without allowing a few complicated cases to hold up the whole process, he said, "We have to stick to a schedule".

The services of a few former Golden Key employees are being made use of to process the deposits in the presence of Central Bank and CID officers at the company’s Duplication Road office, The Sunday Island learns.

The processed accounts are then forwarded for auditing by a special team and listed for repayment, it is understood. The number of depositors who had invested between 1 million and 2.5 million rupees is 2,505.

The official assured that depositors would be informed in writing and the part payments made by cheque when the process is finalized.

Ms. Hapugoda said that she had informed the Central Bank about a super luxury Mercedes Benz car used by Mrs. Sicille Kotelawala, which is believed to have been sold for 42 million rupees to a businessman.

This latest model worth 78 million rupees had done only 4,130 kms at the time it changed hands, but nobody knows what happened to the money, she claimed. "It had been transferred on November 12, 2009".

"Yes, this matter has been brought to our notice and we are looking into it", the Central Bank official said. "We will be initiating action".

This money should have come to the dedicated account to repay depositors, but at a time every cent counts, this is how assets are being disposed of, she said. "And, the Central Bank is complaining it has no funds".

There are a lot of immoveable assets, including hundreds of vehicles held at a Colombo yard, but they have still not being sold to raise money to repay depositors, she said. "There are people interested in buying them".

"We will be placing all these matters before the Supreme Court when the FR case comes up again", she said. "This is unacceptable".

She said that the Supreme Court had directed the Attorney General to dispose of assets amounting to 2.2 billion rupees as given in the report submitted by the Committee of Chartered Accountants.

A four-member delegation representing Golden Key depositors placed before the Committee fresh details of Lalith Kotelawala’s assets, worth more than four billion rupees, which had not been taken into account in the ongoing bid to raise funds to repay depositors.

The delegation comprising Ms. Dushyanthi Hapugoda, Kapila Jasinthuliyana, Ms. Kanthi Senaratne and Upali Perera accompanied by their lawyer Bandara Senarath, had an hour-long discussion with the Committee headed by Lakshman R. Watawala at the Central Bank, where the Golden Key Secretariat is based.

The Supreme Court has released Lalith Kotelawala and Deputy Chairperson Mrs. Padmini Karunanayake under stringent bail conditions. They have also been warned not to interfere or influence in any manner whatsoever with either the investigations, the prosecution or with the witnesses or tamper with any of the evidence in this case.

Any violation of the conditions will result in the immediate cancellation of bail and the re-remanding of the two suspects.