Black X'mas and New Year to GKCC deposit holders

| BUSINESS: EDITORIAL

(December 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A few weeks ago when the matter came up before the Supreme Court the CJ herself took Lakshman Watawala - the head of the trio of Chartered Accountants appointed to settle the claim of the 7,000 deposit holders soon - to task and reprimanded his Committee for failing to come out with the much expected formulae for a solution.

He asked for time and the CJ was firm some relief must be given to the deposit holders before Christmas Court Vacations. This brought glad tidings to the many thousands and their families. They had a glimmer of hope there will be at least a few smiles in their homes this Xmas and Newyear season.

That appears not to be. Because, through the media we learnt Mr Watawala complaining he and his colleagues cannot come out with a solution and that they will be exiting from their task at the next hearing. The Public has reason to be disappointed with this group of these Professionals for failing a large number of duped citizens.

We think it is in bad taste to refer to the large fees the trio had charged for their unfullfilled task. It would have been good if they came out with some formulae that would have seen some money in the hands of the people concerned at this time of the year.

These depositors find themselves in that situation where the man who fell from the coconut tree was further gored by the bull in the vicinity because among some of the "under-perforoming Assets" covered in the recent controversial Take-Over Bill were some juicy assets of Lalith Kotelawla. This will really mean eventually the sum available for settlement will be far short of the due Rs.29 billion (approx)

So, despite the good intentions of the Hon'ble Chief Justice these poor folk - and their innocent children - are condemned to a Black Xmas and bleak New Year unless something miraculous happens in the interim.

As for us at the Sri Lanka Guardian we have done our best to bring succour to these innocents.