CB officials who failed to take action to stem CIFL collapse must be punished by law, depositors say

Depositors of the failed Central Investment and Finance Ltd (CIFL) are planning to stage a protest on March 3 along the roundabout leading to the Kotte Parliament with the participation of all the members of the CIFL Depositors Association (CIFLDA) in a bid to awaken politicians to their plight.

K.W. Gunawardena, President, CIFLDA told the Business Times that they have been pleading with the earlier government to settle their grievances and now they need to convince the new government of their plight. While a settlement is dragging on, already around 40 of their members have died as they were unable to obtain proper medical treatment as they didn’t have money.

He said that they are preparing papers to challenge the CIFL directors and to stop the further sale of company assets. He said that while the CIFL assets base was worth Rs. 600 million, today it was reduced to Rs. 300 million because, land, furniture, equipment and vehicles have been already sold by the directors.

He said that though they have been persistently asking the Central Bank (CB) to stop this wanton selling, the CB has failed to take any positive action against this move.

The CB, he said, has neglected its duty and gone against their un- dertaking to find investors to resurrect the CIFL. They have even withdrawn the court case that they have instituted against the CB, on the assurance that the CB would find investors.

Some members of the CIFLDA, who did not wish to give their names, said that due to the bungling of some CB officials, the CIFL had collapsed and urged that these CB officials who are involved should be investigated and punished.