ByƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Srian Obeyesekere Courtesy The Nation

The Golden Key Depositors Union (GKDU) yesterday claimed that the Attorney General had failed to issue an extradition order on the second suspect Sicille Kotelawala despite a court ruling.
President, GKDU, Dushyanthi Hapugoda, speaking to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”The NationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-No extradition order has been issued by the Attorney GeneralƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Department despite a High Court order dating back to one and a half years ago. This is I believe because the Attorney General, Palitha FernandoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s wife happened to work at Golden Key at one time. This factor has influenced the non extradition in such a long drawn time.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

She said that Mrs. Kotelawala was presently living in England which had granted her citizenship as had been confirmed by the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Robbie Bulloch. Hapugoda further claimed that she had written as many as three letters addressed to the Attorney General regarding the extradition of Mrs. Kotelawala, but had not received any response.

The Golden Key scandal since 2009 involving a sum of over Rs.26 billion in deposits is the worst of its kind to hit Sri Lanka culminating in the loss of 28 human lives through suicides of hard pressed depositors who were left in the lurch. An approximate 6254 of a total number of 9127 depositors are yet to be repaid with Rupees1477 million already settled.