Blackshield/Goldcoast Fund saga: Delay in payment due to legal action – SEC
THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has explained that the delay in payment of funds to affected customers of Blackshield Fund Management Company Limited is due to “litigation instigated Blackshield/ Goldcoast which have slowed down the process of obtaining the Winding Up order from the court by the Official Liquidator.”
In a press release issued yesterday, the SEC said “we wish to state that the delay in payment of bailout funds to affected customers is not due to the refusal of the Ministry of Finance to provide funds. The delay is principally due to the legal action by Blackshield/Gold Coast contesting the liquidation petition brought by the Official Liquidator (Office of the Registrar of Companies) at the request of SEC following the revocation of licences.”
Picketing of Blackshield/Gold Coast clients
Touching on the picketing of clients of the defunct company at the Ministry of Finance, the SEC said it had noted comments seeking a release of GH¢8.6 billion which was purportedly approved by Parliament to settle clients of Blackshied/Goldcoast, hence the protest at MoF.
We reiterate that a full bailout has been extended to affected clients of the companies where the liquidation orders have been granted by the Courts and a partial bailout in the case where the liquidation petition is pending.
The SEC can confirm that so far, GH¢4.6 billion has been paid as follows: GHS3.1 billion to Amalgamated Fund Tier 1 payments and GH¢1.45 billion assigned to Amalgamated Fund Tier 2 payments. This disbursement includes the partial bailout program, which entailed the proactive payment of a threshold sum of up to GH¢50,000 to clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast and other companies who had not received winding up orders from the Court by October 2020 but whose claims had been validated. Altogether, 73,541 claims, amounting to GH¢1.34 billion have been paid to Blackshield/Gold Coast clients in the partial bailout programme. Out of that amount, a total amount of GH¢757,539,141 has been used to fully settle 61,734 claims of Blackshield/Goldcoast customers.
Why full bailout for Blackshield clients is still pending
The liquidation petition is still pending in court and thus stalling government’s full bailout programme for the affected clients. Blackshield/Gold Coast has filed applications at various courts to challenge the SEC’s decision to revoke its license.
The unfortunate consequence of this action is that the Official Liquidator cannot complete the liquidation process, which has subsequently impacted government’s ability to roll-out the bailout program to the remaining affected customers of Blackshield/ Gold Coast. It is evident that a change in the posture of Blackshield/ Gold Coast to the liquidation petition is key to speeding up the process.
SEC appealed for calm and encouraged affected clients to rely only on information provided by the Commission and the official liquidator
