Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawala – the former chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated and the founding chairman of Seylan Bank who died last month – was confined to his house by a group of lawyers prior to his passing, the Supreme Court heard today (Nov. 09).

This was communicated to the Supreme Court bench by the president of Golden Key Depositors’ Association, Marco Perera.

A motion put forward in respect of a fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by the Golden Key depositors was taken up for hearing before Justices S. Thurairajah, Achala Vengappuli and Priyantha Fernando.

Perera told the judge bench that he had received reports of a group of lawyers keeping Mr. Kotelawala confined to his place prior to his death and sought an opportunity to present more submissions in this regard.

However, the judge bench ordered him to file a motion to obtain permission in advance to present submissions before the Supreme Court, as he had failed to do so today.

Subsequently, the next hearing of the FR petition was fixed for May 08, 2024.

Renowned Sri Lankan businessman Lalith Kotelawala passed away on October 21 at the age of 84. It was reported that he had been receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo at the time of his demise.

Golden Key Credit Card Company was once a leading financial institution specializing in credit card services and a subsidiary of Ceylinco Consolidated. In 2008, it was revealed that the outfit was involved in a lengthy embezzlement scheme since 1999 in which the depositors were scammed out of billions of rupees.