Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kotelawala was taken to the Central Bank under heavy security escort to be shown the list of his assets identified and valued for disposal to repay depositors of the collapsed Golden Key Credit Card Company.

He was led by prison officers to the Central Bank’s Golden Key Secretariat, where he spent time examining the list of assets earmarked to go under the hammer, sources said.

He gave the go-ahead to sell his assets and settle depositors as soon as possible as "these poor people are going through agony", the sources asserted.

Central Bank officials hesitantly confirmed that Kotelawala was brought there, but declined to discuss details. "It’s beyond the scope of our duties".

Kotelawala, a top business magnate who headed Sri Lanka’s most diversified Ceylinco Group, is on remand in connection with the 26 billion rupees Golden Key scam. Many other directors of the failed company also remain in remand custody.

"Yes, Kotelawala has given the green light to dispose of his assets to pay back distraught depositors", says Ms. Dushyanthi Hapugoda, the former treasurer of the Golden Key Depositors’ Association.

During the meeting at the Central Bank, he has told officials that he is eager to pay back all depositors and clear his name, she said.

"He had said that he did not want any more people to die because Golden Key depositors continue to be deprived of their capital plus interest", Ms. Hapugoda claimed.

"In fact, when I visited Kotelawala in the remand prison sometime back he expressed eagerness to repay depositors through the sale of his assets", she said. "He wanted to go back to his Maker one day with a clear conscience".

The Sunday Island learns that under the Golden Key repayment plan, which is now being finalized, an initial payment of 60% of the capital of depositors is being considered.

While the capital liability has been placed at 12 billion rupees minus the accumulated interest of depositors who had invested surplus funds, 7 billion rupees will be required to meet the 60% commitment, sources said.

However, as raising a large volume of capital at short notice could be deemed difficult, an initial payment of 25% is also being looked at if the required 7 billion rupees cannot be found immediately, they said.

It is understood that no finality has been reached so far on the mode of repayments, which will be determined by the Supreme Court. The repayment plan in expected to be placed before court when the Fundamental Rights (FR) case comes up for hearing again on September 1, 2009.

On a directive by the Supreme Court, depositors who were dependent on the interest income for their sustenance have submitted affidavits to the Central Bank to be considered for priority when the repayment process starts.

The capital liability had reached a staggering 26 billion rupees as most depositors with surplus cash had capitalized their interest to allow their investments to grow, officials said. "Some of these deposits had reached dizzy heights".

"Some affluent depositors with big investments had seen their deposits grow by millions each month", they pointed out. "They had deposited and virtually forgotten about their millions until the company crashed".

It is the poor depositors who had dumped their hard-earned savings who are taking the brunt of it with neither their money nor interest for more than eight months, they said. "These people have been reduced to paupers".

Meanwhile, Golden Key depositors staged a noisy protest in Colombo last Friday against what they called the "Central Bank’s unacceptable delay in settling their dues".

Carrying a coffin in a mock funeral procession and effigies of Kotelawala and the Central Bank Governor, the demonstrators later attempted to go to the Presidential Secretariat to hand over an appeal calling for the President’s intervention to grant them relief.