“The management agent we’ve appointed to help the IFL for a turnaround, People’s Leasing Company is still very much involved in the matter and slowly IFL is expected to come out of trouble,” Cabraal said.
With the run on deposits of the Golden Key Credit Card Company, IFL also felt the heat as depositors started to pull out their deposits despite it being a registered finance company, regulated by the Central Bank. Unable to manage the institution with the looming threat of defaulting depositors, the owners of IFL at that time, the CIFL Group sold their ownership to a company called Rock Millennium (Pvt) Ltd, run by UK based Sri Lankan investor, Upul De Zoysa.
With the acquisition, the new management of the IFL promised the depositors to bring Rs700 million by mobilising foreign funds and restructuring the company.
However, the depositors currently claim that although they have surrendered their matured FD certificates they’ve been unable to obtain the due payments.
Even though the Central Bank appointed People’s Leasing as the management agent, sensing the crisis, the depositors say that the management agent also has failed and currently everything is in the doldrums.
