Ceylinco Islamic Bank depositors submit petition to Maithri

Friday, 30 January 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Text and pic by Ashraff A. Samad The Depositors Association of Ceylinco Profit Sharing and Investment Corporation Ltd. has submitted a petition to the President’s Additional Secretary Koddikara and lodged a police complaint and requested the return of Rs. 600 million in total deposits.

The petition was handed over by Depositors Association President Mujib Ibrahim. Western Provincial Council Member Mujeeb Rahuman was also present. Ibrahim said that with the guidance of Islamic Religious Scholars (All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema) a fully-fledged Islamic Bank was established in 2004 by Lalith Kotelawala. This bank was named Ceylinco Profit Sharing and Investment Corporation Ltd. and functioned as a yet another entity under the Ceylinco group of companies. This institution catered particularly to the financial needs of the Muslim community with the intent of earning profits according to the Halal way. The publicity surrounding CPSICL gave a clear message that this was a Muslim financial institution functioning in adherence with Islamic Sharia compliance and naturally it attracted quite a large number of poor Muslim depositors. They withdrew their deposits from conventional banks and reinvested their money in accounts opened with the new institution, placing total trust in Chairman Lalith Kotelawala and his Board of Directors and invested their hard-earned money with CPSICL. From 2004 to 2008 there had been almost 9000 Muslims depositors whose investment totalled well over Rs. 600 million. It is the opinion of the petitioner that the bank’s Chairman and Directors have blatantly misused their powers through mismanagement, misappropriation, fraudulent dealings, non-compliance of Sharia rules, violation of company laws and other statuary requirements and are responsible for the premature collapse of CPSICL. The petitioners believe that the instance flagged here could be used to defend depositors’ stand and serve justice and relief.